#LawEnforcement

Don’t even get me started on the firearms that police are issued. Some officers in the Los Angeles Police Department are still training with Vietnam War-era M16 rifles. Fortunately, some departments have the funds to upgrade their duty guns. The Massachusetts State Police is one of those departments. They have now adopted the wicked cool Smith & Wesson M&P45 M2.0 as their official duty handgun. That 4/5th guaranteed to lean ya man.

FN have introduced an improved version of their FN 303 less lethal system, the FN 303 Mk2. This is a pellet launching system which fires fin-stabilized, .68-caliber projectiles. It has a magazine capacity of 15 projectiles and is effective out to 50 meters. It’s powered by compressed air and its semi-automatic action can rapidly fire a range of projectiles.

Welcome to another edition of TFB’s Wheelgun Wednesday, where we cover all things related to the world of revolvers. Speaking of the world of revolvers, this week we’ll spotlight one country that has still issued revolvers to its police officers. The national police force of Chile, known as the Carabineros de Chile, from which I’ve found plenty of evidence to conclude that this agency is currently issuing Taurus revolvers to some officers. Let’s take a look.

On February 25th, 2021 the Sacramento Sheriff’s office received a 911 call from a citizen claiming that someone who was in his house for repair work was instead eating his food and that he had them at gunpoint. Later, shots were fired and officers were dispatched to the scene where the sole occupant of the house was taken into custody. Later, the Sheriff’s department collected a large amount of weaponry and explosives which included a tear-gas grenade launcher (appears to be a Manville gas gun), 3 sticks of what was thought to be dynamite, and tens of thousands of rounds of various ammunition.

A recent bit of local Massachusetts news has revealed that the Cambridge, MA police department may be reducing its weapon inventory by up to 20% as well as making a few other changes to its equipment roster. According to news source Wicked Local, the push to reduce the weapons inventory of the Cambridge Police came about after the department released a full inventory of its stores that was open to the public. Aside from the move to reduce the guns of the department, there is some disagreement over the methodology by which the reduction will take place.

Nearly 4 years ago, sometime in May of 2017, the Santa Cruz Police Department made the shocking discovery that one of their AR-15 carbines had gone missing from the police armory. According to police Lieutenant Arnold Vasquez, the rifle was last accounted for on February 9th, 2017. Since then an investigation has been underway to discover how and where the missing/stolen weapon had gone but has yet to turn over any conclusive results.

At 6AM this morning a team of FBI agents were executing a court-ordered Federal search warrant in Miami, Florida when a shooting took place which left two agents dead and three others wounded. The suspect was killed during the shootout.

The ability to shoot from behind cover is pretty cool. More importantly, it can keep you alive. With good ol’ fashioned Israeli engineering, the CornerShot made this a real possibility. Extending the reach of the famous CornerShot, Silver Shadow Israel has introduced the Corner Shot Scorpion.

Smith & Wesson have announced that they have provided their hometown police department, Springfield PD, with over 600 new duty pistols. Springfield PD will be receiving new M&P M2.0s to replace their current M&P40 pistols, it’s unclear if the department will be moving to 9x19mm or whether the M2.0s will be in .40S&W.

Walther Arms has secured a contract to provide Georgia’s Berrien County Sheriff’s Office with new duty pistols. The Berrien County Sheriff’s Office have selected Walther’s PPQ M2 in 9x19mm. These new 9mm 4 inch barrel PPQ M2s will replace the range of .40 S&W semi-auto pistols currently in use.

In the world of US law enforcement, Glock has been widely accepted as the gold standard for duty guns for years. Many top federal agencies – and even the US Coast Guard – choose the highly reliable polymer-framed, striker-fired pistols, and plenty of subordinate state- and local-level departments follow suit. However, there is still a decent amount of variety beyond Glock in different jurisdictions, with some offices opting for SIGs, Walthers, and more. One such alternative can be found in the Staccato 2011.

Viridian Weapon Technologies has been in the weapon-mounted laser business for just shy of a decade and a half. In that time they’ve expanded their product lines to offer numerous other gun accessories as well, including a laser-integrated AR hand stop, holsters, and more. They’re also currently poised for additional future innovations based on a burgeoning partnership with gunsmithing tool shop Real Avid. Other than their lasers, one of Viridian’s products that has been gaining in popularity lately is their FACT weapon-mounted camera. Given the challenges faced by modern law enforcement agencies, as well as the transparency and oversight demanded by the taxpaying public in many communities, this technology makes sense for many departments. Now with the following August 31st press release, Viridian has announced that the Nye County Sheriff’s Department has opted to get on board with the FACT as well. The release reads:

Brazil’s Military Police of São Paulo State (PMESP) have selected the Steyr AUG in its submachine gun configuration to fulfil an order for 1,000 submachine guns. The Steyr AUG A3 in submachine gun configuration, feeding from a .40 caliber extended Glock magazines was the winning bidder for the contract. The Steyr beat out competition from B&T and Shield Arms. In the negotiation phase, Steyr offered the lowest final bid, $2,580 per weapon.

Israeli Weapon Industries, or IWI for short, is best known in the US for producing guns like the Tavor bullpup, the Masada and Jericho pistols, the elusive Carmel battle rifle, and their new US-manufactured AR, the Zion-15, among others. They are also a key supplier for the Israeli Defense Force, as well as a host of other military forces and law enforcement agencies all around the world. For example, TFB recently reported that IWI is selling more than 16,000 of their Negev NG-7 light machine guns to the Indian Army. Now they’re rolling out an entirely new initiative, with a July 21st press release detailing the announcement of multi-part comprehensive riot control solutions. The release reads as follows.

With India’s armed forces still awaiting a new service rifle, it seems that Indian Special Forces are forging on ahead. Indian media outlets have reported that India’s Para (Special Forces) unit have selected the 7.62x51mm FN SCAR-H along with a number of other weapons.