Good question
State ends high-powered weapons program after media ask exactly why it is that the police need grenade launchers?
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June 17th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Not saying there aren’t problems with the program overall, but the M79 has less-lethal uses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M79_grenade_launcher#Less-Lethal_.2F_Crowd_Control
June 17th, 2009 at 10:17 am
“why it is that the police need grenade launchers?”
Devil’s advocate here: They might want them to disperse tear gas when they have to get out the riot gear. I’d be more worried if the PDs were using the program to buy actual HEDP grenades for their M79s.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Duh,
they them so they can sell them to bad people from Mexico at the “arms bazaars for criminals”. 😛
June 17th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Next question: “Why is is that the police need fully automatic weapons?”
/broken record here…
June 17th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Am I the only guy that thinks police shouldnt be armed past a shot gun and sidearm?
Less armed then people can possibly be, but with autority= police
Better armed, with autority= prison guards
June 17th, 2009 at 11:00 am
bobby, i’m all for giving them rifles.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:03 am
They didn’t want to give the real reason, it’s because we the public are the “enemy”, and they need full auto to mow down thier enemies…..
June 17th, 2009 at 11:07 am
I’m all for giving them what they want with the stipulation that anyone living in their jurisdiction must also be able to buy that gear with a minimum of official paperwork.
Police are not overlords. As good old Bobby Peel said over 180 years ago: The police are the public and the public are the police. Cops are only citizens “paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen.”
June 17th, 2009 at 11:27 am
I liked that a new memorandum of understanding between the State program coordinator and the military will be “forged.” Remember, English can be used as either a rapier or a wooden club.
I found it amusing that only one community got the grenade launchers, which are used for launching tear gas canisters. Apparently the rest of the state either has some device to do that already, or they do without.
I also found it amusing that M16 rifles are kept cased in trunks of patrol cars. Because when you really really need a rifle, getting one out of the case in the trunk works so much better than using the quick release on the dash-mounted rifle holder. I’m sure all Masshole police officers are as happy with that as are their politically appointed chiefs.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:39 am
“Because when you really really need a rifle, getting one out of the case in the trunk works so much better than using the quick release on the dash-mounted rifle holder.”
They’re surplus so you’re talking 20″ fixed-stocked m16s that are 40″ long. I doubt the cops are really going to lament not having to wrangle them around the inside of a cruiser. And the probably aren’t in standard rifle cases in the trunk either.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:41 am
What’s being left out of this discussion is that the program hasn’t been abiding by federal guidelines. They’ve been misappropriating guns left and right around that state. I suspect the suspension is a little more for fear of the feds finding that out. 🙂
June 17th, 2009 at 11:59 am
In my town in CA we have cops with AR carbines and 30-round magazines mounted inside the patrol car – rifles and magazines the rest of us basically can’t own. At least they aren’t M16’s.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Nate Says:
June 17th, 2009 at 11:03 am
They didn’t want to give the real reason, it’s because we the public are the “enemy”, and they need full auto to mow down thier enemies….. Are you serious?
The North Hollywood shootout was an armed confrontation between two heavily-armed and armored bank robbers, Larry Eugene Phillips, Jr. and Emil Matasareanu, and patrol and SWAT officers of the Los Angeles
Police Department in North Hollywood, California on February 28, 1997. It happened when responding patrol officers engaged Phillips, 26 and Matasarean, 30 leaving a bank which the two men had just robbed. Ten officers and seven civilians sustained injuries before both robbers were killed. Phillips and Matasareanu had robbed several armored vehicles prior to their attempt in North Hollywood and were notorious for their heavy armament, which included automatic rifles.
Local patrol officers at the time were typically armed with a 9 mm or .38 Specialpistols on their person, with some having a 12-gauge shotgun available in their cars. Phillips and Matasareanu carried fully automatic rifles, with ammunition capable of penetrating police body armor, and wore body armor of their own. Since the police handguns could not penetrate the bank robbers’ body armor, the patrol officers’ efforts were ineffective. SWAT eventually arrived with weapons that could penetrate and they also appropriated several semi-automatic rifles from a nearby firearms dealer. The incident sparked debate on the appropriate firepower for patrol officers to have available in similar situations in the future.
June 17th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Yeah, I’m serious. The militarization of the police is alarming. If they want to play army, join the army. Cops have been given WAY too much leeway and money so they can play army with m79’s, M-16’s, M2’s, and APCs…the whole while telling us that they should be the only ones with these “weapons of war”. What good does it do? One incident back in ’97 where the cops were outgunned hardly makes the case for cops to have anything more than us other civilians are allowed to have. Look at pictures and video of the Virginia Tech massacre, what good did all of the tacti-cool military grade weapons do in the hands of agents of the state…none. They stood around while kids who were forced to be disarmed, were shot. Yeah, those guys were real heroes. And instead of actually pushing for what would really help, they stand by while thier union heads say we need more gun control…
I wonder where the “Us vs Them” mentality comes from…
June 18th, 2009 at 8:02 am
@nate: +1
June 18th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Nate Says:
They didn’t want to give the real reason, it’s because we the public are the “enemy”, and they need full auto to mow down thier enemies…..
Statements like this is nothing but ammo for the anti-gun people, they could use it to point out how this is suppose to be a “responsible gun owner”. People like you are dangerous enough with a keyboard. I have wasted enough time with your comments.