END OF THE LINE FOR THE LITTLE PISTOL

This is the story of the little pistol that could.

It was a .32 caliber revolver, manufactured in the Smith & Wesson plant in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1949. It was shipped to the John Jovino Gun Shop in Manhattan.

The shop still stands, still sells guns; it's been in business since 1911. We don't know who bought the gun because records from the '40s no longer exist. It might have been a policeman because back then there was a nearby police station and police firing range. These .32s were popular with police; back then cops still shot mouse guns.

In 1976 it belonged to Corrections Officer John Eckert who filed a police report saying he lost it. Eckert retired later that year and is no longer alive.

In 2009 a man named Carlos is said to have had the gun. Edwin Santana says he took the gun from Carlos. That was the day, last Sunday, that Police Officer Rodney Lewis arrested Santana. Lewis's partner searched Santana and took the gun, but dropped it. The gun went off, and the bullet hit Lewis in the chest. Those old revolvers sometimes did that, they didn't have the safety features of most modern revolvers.

Officer Lewis is out of the hospital; he'll be OK.

But the little pistol that could has reached the end of its line. Like all guns confiscated in New York City, it will be melted down and the steel used to make wire coat hangers.

(NYT)