re: #424 Rightwingconspirator

If snipers had gotten deployed, sure. Full auto of lesser impact still puts an armored man down. Back then LAPD was so under armed they wound up illegally getting better guns from a local store. A store that ATF tried to bust for it. And yes they were changing aim all along as those guys walked away under fire. “Only” two perpetrators? You should have seen that neighborhood after “only two” guys shot it up. Brass and bullets and bullet holes turned up for days.

Thing is sometimes it’s a sudden fight. Not like a hostage deal where the bad guys location is fixed and snipers and entry teams can stage up and then finally act. Next time an armored bad guy has at it with military weapons, the first cops on the scene might be able to deal with it. 9mm was always a bad idea for cops or soldiers. Inadequate to the task. Contributes to excessive fire.

The only correction for that I’d make is that the ATF didn’t get as far as seeking arrest warrants. They raised questions about paperwork (for which there had been no time), after which the gun store called the LAPD officers it had provided the rifles and shotguns to, following which the LAPD called the Department of the Treasury (which the ATF was part of at the time), with the result that Treasury Secretary Lloyd Benson quashed the investigation and ordered the ATF to make an exception.