Mini-14's in use by CA LE

[19852]

I was looking at some pics of the man hunt in CA on yahoo. I noticed what looked like regular cops involved carrying Mini-14's. Would this be because of CA's onerous gun laws? Or do they just like Mini-14's?Do these laws also apply to the police?

[maddawg5777]

Coming from my friends and family that live out there and are past or present LEOs in San Diego county its most likely certain depts don't have the funding to upgrade or the person in charge of purchasing kit sees nothing wrong with the minis.

[CRAMBONE]

I haven't seen the pictures your talking about, but I would guess its a smaller department.

[Animal_Mother556]

I figured they had EVERYBODY out looking for this guy, and needed to dig deep into the weapon locker to get everyone a rifle. That was my first assumption.

[Roecar]

Pretty much grab anything that shoots or the department being to poor to afford AR15/M4s. The urban PDs are all equipped with AR15s, I think the pictures you saw are peripheral agencies in "rural" areas.

All LEOs are exempt from CA gun laws while employed.

[markm]

Yeah. I too saw a few of those mini's at check points and stuff on the foxnews website photos.

[Auto426]

The Mini used to be more popular in law enforcement than it is today. It's possible those guns may have been purchased a couple of decades ago and the department issuing them just hasn't allocated the funding to upgrade to AR's.

[ST911]

Mini-14s are found in LE use here and there, and usually in clusters. Less often every year as they are replaced by AR types. Some users have elected to retain them as spares or deep stock, as they've had virtually no trade in value until recent months.

Older Minis have some value as "aww, shucks" guns, a gun that prompts little more than "aww shucks" when lost, stolen, or ditched.

[xrayoneone]

Working out here its probably a mixture of both. To get an AR you need Chief approval but you can get a Mini without hasseling the boss. Likewise the Mini 14 was quite popular back in the day. Why replace weapons that are still good when your budget is being crushed by gas, vehicle and union purchases?

ARs are better but what can you do.

[KTR03]

Before I escaped California (2002) there were lots of rugers in state agencies (corrections and CHP). They probably still have them.

[Ready.Fire.Aim]

Captions said San Bernadino Sheriffs Dept. all armed with iron sight Mini14s.
I respect these Officers, they know they are going in harms way...Not all have plate carriers.

http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h368/Aggie84/65c28769a1b050776262d54362f3d65b_zps1263d149.jpg

http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h368/Aggie84/9c3f21065f78d7ee9abb6bc6b891813a_zpse0159f48.jpg

http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h368/Aggie84/5983f726d813e35f8d773547c4c63af3_zps59715294.jpg

[kmrtnsn]

The mini-14 is the issue rifle of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.

[RyanB]

I'd imagine what keeps them from DRMO M16s is the military look.

[Quiet]

The mini-14 is the issue rifle of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.
Yep.
Since 1980, the San Bernardino County Sheriff Department has issued the Ruger Mini-14.
All deputies get trained on it and there is one in every patrol car (along with a Remington 870 shotgun).
Due to budgetary issues, they continue to use it as their patrol rifle.
Early-2000s, they were able to get enough money to equip their SWAT teams with M-4 Carbines (they wanted to switch in the mid-1990s but couldn't due to budgetary issues).

[ramairthree]

I pity the fool who don't think the Mini-14 is good enuf fo' the
L - A Team!

Seriously,
there are huge numbers of LE personnel.

In combat zones, the military does not give long guns to every single person.

And everyone with a long gun does not get a RDS, PEQ, etc.

Not everyone is going to make the physical/mental cut to be in a cream of the crop LEO unit or military unit.

There is not enough budget to send every single LEO or military person to long, excellent training or give them each a first choice long gun. If there was, the training would be heavily watered down because there would be no pipeline weeding people out to get to the good training.

I hope none of the LEOs get hurt. I hope no law abiding citizens get hurt.

Sadly, at this point, I think the risk to LEOs from one crazy guy is less than the risk to the public at large from the LEOs.

I am not taking a pot shot at LE. If they gave every single active duty person on an Air Force base a long gun because of a threat, amped them up about the danger, and told them to watch out for Joe white guy in a pickup truck I would NOT go on that base.

[Boy Scout]

It's good to see that our boys are at least bringing a big gun (and some friends with big guns) to a gun fight.

I think painting up the PASGT helmets to look like traditional riot/motorcycle helmets is pretty darn cool. We were issued a riot a helmet, but it won't do much for ballistic protection. I am a volunteer officer and have spent a lot of money to get upgraded equipment to be on par with the department. Now it's just big ticket items like plates and a bucket!

[dcnyli]

NYPD has used them for years, and recently began training on them again...

I actually bought one recently to play around with, with the synthetic stock it's light and our draconian laws aren't getting any lighter...

[Bowser]

During a manhunt in the Bay Area 2 years ago, this picture surfaced online on a news outlet.

http://i.imgur.com/DqResxd.jpg

[19852]

Wow. Isn't that one of those HK P-? With the rather small bullets?

[Eurodriver]

In combat zones, the military does not give long guns to every single person.

And everyone with a long gun does not get a RDS, PEQ, etc.


I was in the Marine Corps. The bastard child of the military and especially lacking a big budget.

Every single Marine had a long gun before leaving their home base. When we landed in Kuwait we all had long guns and were given ammunition.

Many units did not have PEQs but all had NVGs and most had RCOs. Is there some sort of experience you're basing this on? Maybe a different branch? Air Force maybe?