By AWR Hawkins
Washington DC – -(Ammoland.com)- Â Boston Mayor-Elect Martin Walsh (D) opposes a Boston Police Department (BPD) plan to purchase AR-15 rifles for officers.
According to the Boston Herald, Walsh “came out over the weekend” in opposition to the plan to purchase “33 AR-15 rifles… [that] would go to two trained officers in all 11 districts of Boston.”
Walsh’s spokeswoman Kathryn Norton said the Mayor-Elect “is opposed to the AR-15 rifles. Unless otherwise convinced by the [BPD], he does not think they are necessary.”Â
City Counselor Charles Yancey echoed Walsh’s sentiments, telling Fox News: “I don’t believe arming [police officers] with ‘assault weapons’ is going to make them any safer.”Â
A veteran BPD officer counters this by pointing out that the police can easily be outgunned without the rifles.
Mayor-Elect Walsh is a supporter of Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins
About:
AWR Hawkins writes for all the BIG sites, for Pajamas Media, for RedCounty.com, for Townhall.com and now AmmoLand Shooting Sports News.
His southern drawl is frequently heard discussing his take on current events on radio shows like America’s Morning News, the G. Gordon Liddy Show, the Ken Pittman Show, and the NRA’s Cam & Company, among others. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal (summer 2010), and he holds a PhD in military history from Texas Tech University.
If you have questions or comments, email him at [email protected]. You can find him on facebook at www.facebook.com/awr.hawkins.
Even if it is true that occasionally the police armed with only handguns will find themselves outgunned by criminals, the militarization of the police is a bad idea. In this case the solution is far worse than the problem.
In my opinion the police should have an AR15 in their car but the circumstances for actually drawing it should be very strict. Too many police officers today are quick to pull the trigger and kill people because they know the laws protect them. As an example look up Ian Birk who murdered an old man. The man was walking down a street minding his own business carving up a piece of wood. He was hard of hearing and the cop walked up to the old man and gave him 4 seconds to drop the wood carving knife. The old… Read more »
one incident in seventeen years?? I beg to differ but if you watch the news or read the paper at all you will see these types of events happening everyday with suspects having weapons that out gun the police. Not to mention that in rural areas everyone has a rifle or shotgun behind the door in the kitchen or somewhere else in the house. Waiting until there is an incident to run to a gun store is an asinine plan.
one honest to God firefight in 17 years does not justify the build up of local police forces into paramilitary units all over the country. these folks are prepping to take out as many people as they can. be a puss and let them or be ready.
I guess this would be okay if you don’t mind your officers being outgunned. LAPD had been in this situation when two heavily armed bank robbers hit a Bank of America branch in North Hollywood in 1997. They had full auto rifles and body armor. Fortunately, there was a gun store a few blocks away that gave the officers some AR15s. SWAT cannot show up within seconds of an active shooter event.
If more police have the AR, then people will become used to these models.
I have one myself, not military full auto.
Our PD has them too but semi auto model.
All the APC, sniper stuff, ultimate behemoth RV for Command and Control Communications Center, all paid for by grants from the dept of Homeland Insecurity.
I do agree that some police departments are going way overboard with the militarization of their departments.
Like they are prepping for world war III or the Zombie Apocalypse.