From: "Hugh Bellars", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<My view is that the police should ditch the MP5s and
assault rifles which scare the crap out of the public
(with rare exceptions) and learn how to use pistols.>
In an ideal world yes. It used to be amazing to watch
the top pistol shots do a flash sight picture and
compressed surprise-break and achieve accuracy
at high speed - in fact I wasn't that bad myself once
(very big nostalgic sigh!). However, I think that we
have to be realistic and realise that most AFOs outside
of the elite units like PT-17 are never going to be
given the range time and training to be able to
reproduce that sort of performance under stress, even
if typical ranges are 10 yards or less.
If police are still taught "instinctive, sense of
direction shooting techniques" for close-range incidents
rather than make proper use of the sights (as was suggested
in the ACPO report quoted by Rusty) then they _will_ miss
with pistols most of the time. Given the apparent level of
training of most AFOs, the self-loading carbine is a better
choice, given that it gives 3 index points on the weapon:
surely much easier to hit a target with under stress, and
better accuracy if a longer range shot is required.
<In any event, the police seem to be going to 5.56mm
and even .40 S&W (in the UMP40) which beat 9mm FMJ or
JSP.>
I agree that 5.56mm is a better choice ballistically,
but have you ever experienced the flash and muzzle
blast from a short barelled 5.56mm in a confined space?
It's not something that you forget in a hurry and I would
definitely not like to experience it without good ear
defenders, especially if my next shot was likely to be
an important one. Therefore the best UK police firearm
would probably be something like the G36K, fitted with
one of Gerry Lapwoods compact Husher 1 moderators - but
that would definitely be un-PC in a big way! I understand
that PR concerns were a big motivation for the RUC use of
the M1 carbine and Ruger Mini14 in the past - nice folksy
wooden stocks with no pistol grips or wicked black plastic.
Hugh
--
I totally disagree - if virtually every patrol officer
on the face of the planet outside the UK can carry a pistol
then it makes no logical sense to argue that a tiny
proportion of our officers cannot be given sufficient
resources to learn how to shoot a pistol properly.
Pistols also cost half what an MP5 or G36K costs,
which means more money to spend on ammunition.
If officers are missing 70% of the time at less than
10 metres with MP5s then the training must be so dire
that having an MP5 confers little or no benefit over
a pistol.
There are two seperate issues here. The first is
that the training needs to be a hell of a lot better
and the second is that the pistol is a better choice
for various reasons (easier to carry, less intimidating
to the public, cheaper etc.) than the MP5 or other
carbine.
The trick to using 5.56mm indoors is to get some
of the earplugs that attenuate the muzzle blast but
still allow voices to be heard.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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