Being cops, we often hear “you should know” or “you oughta know” and it includes a whole myriad of things: every law ever made in your state’s penal code, emergency surgery, psychoanalysis and counseling, mid-wifery, how to achieve peace through transcendental meditation and of course, guns. Often we actually don’t really need to know some of this junk. Sometimes there’s really some stuff we should know. Knowledge is power and having the power to not injure yourself or others is a good thing.

Your Gun



You should know how to use your firearms. Someday, you may be in a gunfight. It happens in your chosen career field. And, you should know how to use them well. Also, you might be in a gunfight and you may not be using your daily carry gun. You might want to learn how to use firearms other than yours — even if you’re not a “gun guy.” Why? Because gunfights are like family vacations; they usually don’t turn out as planned.


Some Thing You Should Know?

I think working cops need to know how to handle, shoot, operate and even safely clear some of firearms occupying our planet in prolific numbers. This could be because you might find one at a crime scene or, more critically, while fighting with a handgun, you might run into one of these other guns. You should know how they work so you could pick one up and use it with moderate proficiency. Oh yeah, these other guns are probably better than your handgun; as a matter of fact, they’re probably better than any handgun. There’s a simple name for this concept — battlefield pick-up.


Why?

For starters there are about 110 million of these two firearms scattered all over the planet. They’re especially prevalent in places like “gun free” zones and locations that outlaw these “types” of guns. Ultimately only the crooks have them and law-abiding citizens can’t. The turds you deal with everyday know how to use them — and will. If they  got ’em and you can get ’em, why not know how to use them?

AR15

The AR15, even though fewer in numbers than the AK — only about 8 million — the probability is you’ll see more of them as they are made right here at home. Having been around since the 1960s the AR15 or M16 is a Eugene Stoner design morphed back and forth though a series of confusing variations both in the military and the private sector. The AR was plagued with a series of problems relating to design, construction, maintenance, ammunition type and caliber effectiveness. All said, used properly by people who know how to maintain the rifle and who understand its limitations, the rifle has done some solid work over four decades.

Ergonomically, the rifle’s design is very sound and current piston driven renditions have driven reliability way up there. Caliber variations in the 6mm plus category provided a new lease on life to the design. The AR15 is out there. A lot of folks and many LE agencies police have them, so the chance of crossing paths with the little black plastic shooter is high.

Nemesis Or Ally?

The AK-47 and its copies comprise a group of rifles numbering over 100 million made since the year 1947. It’s easily the single most prolific assault rifle made and it’s an assault rifle in the truest form. It’s durable, compact, shoots effective cartridges types to moderate ranges. Most importantly to us — it’s easy to use.

The AK is about 3’ long and it weights about 9 lbs loaded, generally accepting   30-round magazines. The adjustable sights are crude by American standards but more than functional over the length of a house, width of a car or across the street. The Warsaw Pact countries, when they existed, peppered the entire world with Mikhail Kalashnikov’s brain child. Today, it can be found today in any country on the planet and, on a personal level, any state or city in the US — legal or not.

Those often found in the US are more often than not semi-automatic, but do not  be shocked to find one fully capable of automatic fire. They come from strange places, some years back I shot a full auto version, Chinese marked brought to America from Vietnam and stored in a LE evidence room. Trust me, there are a lot of AKs out there and you may run into one before you get your gold watch.

Your Firearms Guy

Check with your department firearms guys and request a familiarization firing of the rifles. You might have to provide some ammunition, but it’ll be well worth the cost as you may be only betting your life on your ability to run these guns. Ask and find out about how to load or unload the rifles, find out how the safety works — in the on and off mode. Get a basic grasp of the sights and how to shoot the rifles in question.

In your line of work you can’t afford to under estimate either of these rifles — or for that matter, any rifle. Rifles are better than handguns — you should know it.

For More Info: http://kalashnikov.guns.ru/ and www.ar15.com/