From: rats@cbnewsc.cb.att.com (Morris the Cat)
Subject: Re: My Gun is like my American Express Card
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Lines: 43


|What seems to be happening here is the situation getting totally blown out of
|proportion.  In my post I was referring to your regular patrolman in a car
|cruising around the city vs. gang members.  Of course the police have access
|to the things that you mentioned but do they use tanks and such all of the
|time?  Of course they don't and that's the point I was trying to make.  Every
|day when I go out to lunch I always see cops coming in.  The majority that I
|see are still carrying revolvers.  Not that there is anything wrong with a
|revolver but if you're a cop that is up against some gang member with a couple
|of automatics in his coat (I mean semi-auto handguns) you're going to be at a
|disadvantage even with training.  I have been at a shooting range where gang
|gang members were "practicing" shooting.  They were actually practicing
|taking out their guns as quick as possible and shooting at the target
|and they weren't doing too badly either.   The University cops here (who are
|are state cops) are armed better than the Chicago police.  It seems most
|state cops are.  I don't know where you are originally from David but you live
|in Tennesse and I live in Chicago and see this crap everyday on the news
|and in the papers.  I think the situation is just a tad different here
|than there.

However, don't forget that the police in Chicago can carry just about
anything they want except for the Glock, which is not approved for
carry (Guess they figure all cops are like the Police Chief of Winnetka,
who happened to let off a stray round of 9mm. This is the same anti-gun
police chief that wanted full-auto Uzis for his patrol cars...).

Perhaps in the judgement of the majority of Chicago's finest, a close-to-
100% reliable weapon like a revolver is preferable to a 99.99% reliable
automatic. I note that in Germany, where certainly the 9mm semi-auto
handgun is king, some of the more elite police types want revolvers.

I don't think the issue is cost, because Chicago police certainly make
on the order of at least $40K/year. 

Your presumption of "disadvantage" I think is not borne out by the
experiences of New York City's cops; there the cops usually come out
on top with their standard .38 Spl revolvers.

I've seen S&Ws, Rugers and Beretta 9mms in addition to the revolvers
carried by Chicago cops.... in the past, I've seen .45 M1911s; others
have seen Browning Hi-Powers...

|Jason
