You average Chief or Sheriff has about as much knowledge about firearms as the folks who post in General Discussion in the board that shall not be named. The "knowledgeable" ones get their info from gun rags. Or, perhaps they got their information on the penetration risks of 5.56 from the latest episode of CSI Miami.
There is another factor invovled, as well, because many LE firearms instructors are just as susceptible to the CDI factor of new stuff. What cop doesn't know of a department that switched from 9 to .40 not because the 9mms wore out, but because everybody was going to .40 so they had to also?
In truth, gear and even ammo selection is far less important, as long as it is serviceable, than the amount of time and effort a department puts into a training program.
I happen to work for a department that provides us AR pattern rifles with optics, lights and single-point slings. The issue pistol is an HK USP .45 with UTL MkII. We have LL 870s and Taser X26s available to each officer. The only downside is that we can't carry anything but department owned and issued pistols.
It would be nice if their was a happy medium; guns are just tools. Do we make every carpenter on a jobsite carry the same hammer?
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