Military Gave Hundreds of Assault Rifles to Cops in Gun-Unfriendly Connecticut

New York Times

Following up on growing concern about the militarization of American police departments in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting and official reaction to resulting protests, the New York Times published a map that breaks down the distribution of military equipment to law enforcement agencies around the United States. The equipment can be sorted by type and by county. It turns out that Connecticut has been an especially enthusiastic participant in the federal government's 1033 program for dispensing surplus armor, gear, and weapons to police. That includes 748 assault rifles snapped up by cops in a state that cracked down on civilian ownership of scary rifles very recently.

The map specifies that "Recipients may include state and local agencies based in this county," but that sort of differentiation hardly matters given the hostility of so many government officials (and right-thinking editorialists) to firearms ownership by the unwashed masses.

According to the map, Connecticut counties received assault rifles in the following numbers since 2006.

• Fairfield County: 245
• Hartford County: 231
• Litchfield County: 19
• Middlesex County: 6
• New Haven County: 137
• New London County: 56
• Tolland County: 23
• Windham County: 31

Because, as the last week has demonstrated, professional police agencies can be trusted with loads of military toys. But civilians…Well, I guess we just have to watch out, carefully, for the professionals.

Comments

[Warty]

In a more civilized time, surplus weapons were sold by the CMP to stupid rednecks who chopped them up into hideous abortions of deer rifles. We live in a barbaric time.

[Almanian!]

+1 Garand

[Cdr Lytton]

In a more civilized time, surplus weapons not taken home by service members were sold by the CMP

[mr lizard]

Does anybody hear that faint sound of nothing else happening? ...

Although keep up the good work, this stuff is finally making into the narrow confines of americas attention span. And it sounds like the Statist are too stupid to put their toys away.

[Almanian!]

Remind me again what constitutes an "assault rifle"?

[$park?'s head exploded]

Scary looking gun that was used to shoot someone.

[derpules]

You're thinking of "assault weapon"

[MegaloMonocle]

An assault rifle is a select-fire (read: semi or full auto) that uses an intermediate cartridge and detachable magazines.

Select-fire, detachable magazines that use more manly calibers (.308, etc.) are known as "battle rifles."

You're welcome. And, yes, unlike the scawy "assault rifles" that the progs and their useful idiots want to ban for citizens, the ones given to the cops were no-fooling assault rifles.

[Agammamon]

'Assault weapon' is the prog term of choice, since 'assault rifle' has a very specific meaning.

[The Original Jason]

I was told that, to the military, an "assault weapon" is something used to assault targets, like a bangalore torpedo, an RPG, or a bazooka?

[Agammamon]

'assault' just means to attack and seize. What you were told is just some 'after the fact' bullshitting rationalization.

[Almanian!]

Thanks. I don't count anything like that in my inventory, so I'm not contributing to the problem of "civilians outgunning the cops".

I'm SO proud of that...

[Rev-Match]

Remind me again what constitutes an "assault rifle"?

Something about "flash-hiders", "high-capacity clips", and "that-thing-that-goes-up-in-the-back".

[Gluesponge]

But no compass in the stock or this thing that tells time...

[Atanarjuat]

I bet the cops at Sandy Hook were gripping those very same assault rifles with cold, sweaty palms as they waited outside for the shooter to use up all his ammo on the kids.

NEVER FORGET

[Karl Hungus]

So you're saying then that the same cops so eager to serve a standard search warrant with a full-on SWAT assault against a home known to contain only women and children are NOT going to charge into a building to take down an actual armed adversary?

[dannye]

Are these full-auto? That would make the police claims of defense against "civilian militarization" (yes, they actually say this) even more absurd.

[MegaloMonocle]

Yep. Unless someone has specifically "de-milled" them by stripping out the select-fire parts, they can go full(ish?) auto. Not sure if current issue M-16s have full auto (until the mag empties) or just three-round "burst" fire.

[MegaloMonocle]

I see the answer below. Thanks, "crufus" (if that's your real name).

[crufus]

Fairfield County: 245 assault rifles. WTF???

The demographics show this is a well-off (median family income $65,249), mostly white (79.31% White) county.

Do they do a lot of SWAT raids for overdue library books?

[$park?'s head exploded]

It's to keep the dirty blacks from encroaching any further into their territory. At least, that's my theory based on what I know of Connecticunts.

[Daily Beatings]

Fairfield county includes Bridgeport, which is a cesspool.

[Jerryskids]

I have heard elsewhere that most of the surplus M16's are semi only and therefore not an assault rifle. I have no idea if this is true or not, and the suggestion that "semi"= "not an assault rifle" is not one the usual suspects would accept. The M16 is the very model of the "scary-looking gun" = "assault rifle" argument.

[Agammamon]

I don't know about 'semi-only' but there's a naval version of the M-16 that only allows single shot and 3 round bursts.

Sailors aren't actually allowed to get a whole lot of practice and familiarity with our small arms, allowing full-auto just means whole magazines sprayed into the overhead.

[Cdr Lytton]

Is there something special about that naval version? because that safe-semi-3 round burst is the standard A2 selector.

[Agammamon]

Then the 'naval' version is the A2, as in that's the version the Navy picked for its use.

Though it wouldn't surprise me if the navy had some input on the design, as we get an average of 36 practice rounds a year to fire off.

[Agammamon]

I figured it was navy specific because I haven't seen it in use by Marines and we had the 'full-auto' version when I was working with the Seabees - both groups that get a lot more training with small arms than the fleet.

[Cdr Lytton]

I went into the Army as infantry in the mid 90's and we had A2's both in basic and later until M4's replaced them. There were still a bunch of A1's in lower priority units (instantly recognizably by the triangular handguards), I can't remember if those had full auto or were retrofitted with three round burst.

[crufus]

The standard issue M16 replaced full-auto with a three-round burst setting starting with the introduction of the M16A2 in the 1980's and continues with the latest M16A4.

There are some special purpose M16s (M16A3) with a full-auto setting for use by the Navy for SEALS and some other units.

[Karl Hungus]

I read once that the decision to remove fall-auto capability in favor of a three-round burst was a direct result of the amount of ammo wasted in Vietnam: something like 65,000 rounds fired for every enemy fighter killed. We've all seen the photos and film of U.S. troops holding their rifles up from behind cover and spraying in the general direction of where the enemy was assumed to be.

I spent four years in the service carrying an M-16A2, and not once (except when training with blanks) did I ever fire it in 'Burst' mode. There was just no need for that capability, especially since each four-man fire team had its own machine gun, an M-249 SAW. I dunno, maybe if we had done more room-clearing training.

[LarryA]

The irony in this is if you fire 3-round bursts with a standard 18-round magazine, you've reinvented the six-shooter.

[MegaloMonocle]

I'd love for a surprise audit to go into these police armories and find out how many of these are still in the possession of the police department.

I'd bet both my pups that the answer is "less than 100%". I'd bet cash that its less than 80%.

[Agammamon]

See: National Park Police.

Who, during the last government shutdown, had an audit and couldn't account for a notable percentage of their inventory *and* had weapons on hand that weren't listed on that inventory - weapons they had no idea where they came from.

[sarcasmic]

Did anything else happen?

[Brochettaward]

In the military, if you lose a weapon of any kind or any sensitive equipment, the entire unit goes on lock down.

If a cop or a government bureaucrat playing cop loses a gun or a department fails to maintain accountability, nothing happens. They are given more and no punishments given.

Funny, huh?

[Karl Hungus]

In the military, if you lose a weapon of any kind or any sensitive equipment, the entire unit goes on lock down.

I've seen it happen for a bayonet and a spare SAW barrel.

Our company CO lost a GPS unit once when our unit was visiting Ft. Irwin (this was 1992, when a GPS unit was about the size of a VCR), and while the only thing that got locked down was the captain's career, the entire company had to comb the desert till it was found (which it was, though it had been run over by some tracked vehicle).

[Agammamon]

They got some replacement guns for the ones that were missing, *then* put the extras onto the official inventory. The guys who were responsible for maintaining the inventory count gave the 'E-3 shrug' and then nothing else happened (except the captain took one of the sweet new rifles home with him, 'forgetting' to sign it out).

[GroundTruth]

for me but not for thee....

[Almanian!]

And I understand that "earplugs" are now "rubber bullets".

I am so confused any more.

[Karl Hungus]

And I understand that "earplugs" are now "rubber bullets".

I saw that too this morning. The depth and breadth of the media's ignorance with regard to guns never fails to amaze me.

[Otis B. Driftwood]

Belknap County, NH got 2 grenade launchers? That's the state next to Vermont, yes?
Mother. Fucker.

[Gluesponge]

Don't forget to duck! 🙂

[LarryA]

But grenade launchers are "usually" used for smoke and CS.

"Comforting."