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FORT LAUDERDALE (AP) — A Broward County man has come up with a shield he hopes will stop the KTW, a green-tipped bullet with Teflon coating that cuts through a bullet-proof vest as easily as it pierces a cotton shirt. Demand for the bullet has risen since a nationally televised story on it, and police in South Florida are worried that criminals will soon be using them. “The only thing that bullet is designed for is to hurt police officers,”’ exclaimed Arthur Nehrbass, head of Dade County’s Organized Crime Bureau. Even the rigid armor used to rein force limousines can’t stop the KTW, but Richard Medlin said he has developed a lightweight ‘‘trauma shield’’ that might. It slips into a pocket on conventional vests and covers the chest. “It’s a combination of Kevlar, alu minum oxide, silicon and armor plate,” a high-pressure reinforced polyester, said Medlin, who runs Cus tom Armor Manufacturers here. The firm makes Kevlar vests and bullet proofs limousines. When Medlin fired a .357 KTW round at a square of Level III armor plate, generally effective against all handguns and submachine guns, “it a right through it.’’ en he fired one at his trauma shield. The slug went in the front, but never came out the back. The KTW was invented in the late 1960s by Dr. Paul J. Kopsch, former coroner of Lorain, Ohio, and two assis tants. The slugs are made of brass, bronze or oil-hardened tool steel, mak ing them much harder than convention al lead bullets. Because they are harder, KTW slugs do not deform as much on impact, so they do not slow down as much. The Teflon coating also eases friction. The bullets, made by North Ameri can Ordnance Corp. of Pontiac, Mich., are labeled ‘‘for police use only,’’ but there are no laws restricting their sale. “I’ve been in a dozen gun shops and it’s been in three-quarters of them,” said Miami police Sgt. Edward Buff. The bright green ammunition was used in 1976 to kill a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and a visiting Canadian policeman near Deerfield Beach. “We have come up with the KTW as part of the ammunition aoe by people who deal in narcotics,” Buff said. “We're setting up a suggested coun ty ordinance to make possession ille gal,’ said Nehrbass. “If we used it, the round would go through you and the guy behind you. It seems best designed to go through bulletproof vests.” Kopsch, who still lives in Ohio, told The Miami Herald he “very much” regrets the way things have turned out. The bullet was supposed to be a secret between him and the police, he said. The manufacturer depends on retailers to sell only to officers. “If a dealer sells to civilians, we cut off his supply,”’ explained Kopsch. “TI know that’s a little bit like closing the barn door after the horse escapes, but we do what we can.”
Newspaper Details
Panama City News Herald
Panama City, Florida, US
Fri, Feb 12, 1982
Page 17
Full Page
Clipped by
Matthew C.
USA 16 Jun 2026
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