Seems the evolution of law enforcement armament has changed with the times.
From six shot .38's and a Remington 870 or an Ithaca deerslayer to 16 round pistols and full on military type rifles.
Like I mentioned previously, it was all the rage when LE started carrying full auto sub caliber guns, the HK mp5 being the standard.
But that actually was only for a very short period of time, The hysteria that 9/11 caused made that little stick obsolete.
JB
Times have changed and Law Enforcement reacts to the changes. Agencies really moved to semi auto pistols from revolvers because of the FBI Miami Shoot out AND they moved to large calibers. The FBI went with the 10mm which morphed into the 40.
HK submachineguns were/are used for entry during hostages situations which happened quite a bit decades ago.
But then the thugs did not take hostages anymore and they just started killing people. LE reacted with new policies, training, and equipment. That reaction was too late because the changes did not happen until after Columbine. The changes should have happened pre Columbine since there had already been a number of school, work place and public massacres. The LA Bank Shootout pushed LE to have patrol rifles available. Having to use a shotgun with buckshot to take out a killer at long range and/or who is wearing body army is not going to work real well. Thus the move to rifles.
Given that the Feds sell or grant surplus military equipment, LE can end up with military weapons.
LE is going to get blamed if a large scale massacre takes place. The blame may or may not be valid but it certainly was valid at Columbine. The LE reaction at Columbine was horrible and people died as a result. Other types of public attacks are possible and do take place. Hopefully the world will never see another Beslan. If such an event happens in the US, local LE WILL be the first responders and they had better have their polices, training and equipment ready to handle the event. Equipment includes AR15/16.
I really do not buy into the idea of the militarization of LE. LE is reacting to new violence while trying to minimize I am far more concerned with the huge number of Federal Laws. Nobody knows the exact number and various administrations have tried to count the number of criminal Federal offenses. These laws, with criminal penalties, can be enforced by the ever expanding number of Federal Agencies who are adding LE to their duties. Some of these laws do not require that YOU know you are committing a crime. These statues can get you charged, convicted, and imprisoned for simply not filling out paperwork you did not know you were supposed to fill out.
The WSJ has been putting out quite a few stories on this over the last few months.
Later,
Dan