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Trends in Police Handguns

NCJ Number
106565
Author(s)
O P Burden
Date Published
Unknown
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Criminals' increasing use of automatic weapons and machine guns has produced a trend among law enforcement officers toward the use of higher firepower.
Abstract
Most municipal police departments still use the .38 revolver, but semiautomatics and .357 Magnums are increasingly being used. A vice president for Smith and Wesson estimates that 18 to 20 percent of the gun sales to law enforcement agencies are automatics, compared to 5 or 6 percent 5 years ago. The shift has occurred most markedly in the western, southern, and southwestern parts of the United States, especially among State police and large sheriff's departments. Among the four largest municipal police departments, only Los Angeles permits the use of semiautomatics as standard. Officers must buy their own, and the department will decide in the next couple of years whether to make them regular issue. The police agencies in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia still use the .38 revolver. They view it as a safer weapon for crowded urban areas. Many police agencies that use revolvers have issued speedloaders, however. Officials who do not favor them note that gunfights usually take so little time that officers do not reload. In addition, a recent study by the Crime Control Institute indicates that gun battles are becoming less frequent. A bill introduced in the U.S. Congress Justice Department to fund State purchase of speed loaders and combat training for police, but it is unlikely to pass in the current fiscal situation.

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