[holymoly]

St. Petersburg police officers have added the Colt AR-15 rifle to their inventory

IMO They'd be better armed with the M1 .30 Carbine.

The semiautomatic weapons fire bullets that travel up to 2,700 feet per second and are powerful enough to penetrate body armor.

Any centerfire rifle round will penetrate Kevlar soft body armor.

[TChris]

In the small-town Wyoming PD of which I was a part in the early 90's we had Mini-14's in the patrol cars. Nice to see St. Pete catching up to the 90's ;-)

[TMSuchman]

I would much perfer the AR10,7.62mm rifle better.It is small enough to be carried in the vehicle, and the officers are already familar with the weapon type. This is just one former Marine's thought, being respectfully submitted.

[TChris]

The weapons must be stored in a hard case in the trunk of a patrol car except when being used.

St. Pete officer: "Umm... Mr. Bank Robber, will you please wait right there while I get my rifle out of the hard case in the trunk of my car. It'll only take a minute."

[Tallguy]

Let me guess. The police chief wants to arm his officers with semi-auto rifles. In any sane world, this would be a reasonable request that would get honored by the city if they found it necessary. But these ninnies in St. Pete are so scared and ignorant about firearms that they are:

1. Making the cops buy the weapons out of their own pockets, and
2. Forcing them to deploy the weapon with so many restrictions that it will never get used.

God help the first officer who has a .223 round go astray.

[Teacher317]

Cops just love to spend money on toys they don't need.

And the militarization of the police continues apace.

[Dogrobber]

Big Whoop. My city has been using "patrol" riflemen for five years.

[Deguello]

Big woo. LEO's in Dalworthington Gardens, Texas carry H&K MP5's in their cars and motorcycles.

They last directed them in anger on a drunk guy out on Pappy Elkins lake last summer. He refused to quit drinking beer while out in his rubber raft fishing.

[Condor51]

Boy I don't want to scare this AP 'reporter' but a .223 Remington cartridge with its 55gr bullet has a muzzle velocity of 3240 fps. Not until 100 yds does it slow down to approx 2750 fps

(Remington^© ballistics and based on a 24" barrel.

[Bear_Slayer]

An Open Letter From Ronnie Barrett (Barrett 50 caliber)

[Oztrich Boy]

Sarah Brady ans the VOC were right! Expiration of the AWB has resulted in more assault weapons on the streets (100 in one Florida town alone)

[airborne]

One of my personal favorites.