re: #476 ObserverArt

They didn’t before they needed them to be able to control all the idiots with AR style rifles. I think much of that changed with the two robbers out in California that outgunned the police in the North Hollywood Shootout in ‘97.

M-1 Garands would have stopped those two dead in their tracks. I mention the M-1 because we had a stash of them when I was a deputy sheriff in California in the late 70s. Our normal issue weapons were a Colt Python revolver and a Winchester shotgun. The M-1s were for special conditions where range and penetration might be needed. I usually had one in the trunk when I worked in the desert.
Rifles like the AR-15, or the M-1 for that matter, are actually a poor choice for home defense since the high velocity bullets can easily go through walls and kill people in the next room or even the next house. Shotguns are ideal for this, not because they make up for poor accuracy (since shot spread is actually so small across a room as to make no difference) but because the right selection of shot can provide great stopping power with little risk of over-penetration. Conversely, if penetration is needed (suspects behind a car, for example) slug loads can do the job.