Cops and guns
You would think a website that is considered a news source for law enforcement would know something about guns. You’d be wrong. In their defense, it appears to be an AP feed:
The expiration of the nation’s ban on the sale of assault rifles and the appearance of more heavily armed criminals have pushed more than 100 St. Petersburg police officers to order assault rifles of their own for official duty.
Actually, while the ban was in effect, the same rifles were available to the public. Those rifles just didn’t have flash suppressors, folding stocks or bayonet lugs. Sadly, the officers must buy their own:
Police Chief Chuck Harmon approved use of the AR-15s last June with guidelines that took months to develop. Officers who want the weapons must buy them for $1,100.
And this denotes no effort to research the guns:
Critics say that the speed and 300-yard range of the bullets pose a threat to bystanders. Advocates say the assault rifles are vastly better than the standard Glock handguns assigned to officers and are more accurate than the pump-action shotguns that the department makes available.
The effective range of the 5.56 Nato is about 600 yards. And the 5.56 Nato has been shown to display less penetration than 40 S&W ammo that most officers use in their handguns.
Update: Ravenwood found another story on the incident. This is particularly interesting:
“Without a doubt, there are thousands and thousands of departments carrying patrol rifles at this point,” said Emanuel Kapelsohn, vice president of the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors.
Kapelsohn resists calling them “assault” rifles, saying the word gives a negative connotation. But whatever they are called, the rifles have drawn opposition, nationally and locally.
“Our cities are not combat zones, but when you arm the police with assault rifles, you run the risk of turning them into combat zones,” said Tom Diaz, senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C. “I doubt there very many communities outside Iraq where you need that kind of firepower.”
See, some police know their guns and recognize the assault weapons ban nonsense was, well, nonsense.
April 26th, 2005 at 3:34 pm
If you read the story Ravnwood linked to it says the ammo is $250 a box. What the F’ing kind of ammo are they shooting that costs $250 a box???
April 26th, 2005 at 9:06 pm
250.00 a box? wellll…..maybe one of the Eley Tenex Target .22 loads.
Police shouldn’t be armed with anything more than 38 special revolvers and lead bullets. It just gets them into trouble.