What kinds of guns can cops carry? or can they carry any handgun?

Question

What kinds of guns can cops carry? or can they carry any handgun?

Answer 1

Departments tell you what to carry, to avoid litigation.

Answer 2

When they are on Duty they carry a Standard 9mm Glock like this

http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbvi...

Answer 3

I know a cop from Kitsap County, Washington, and he carries a Sig Pro. in .40 S&W, and in his car he has a 12Ga. shotgun prob. a Rem. 870 or a Moss. 500, and an AR-15 in .223. THATS A LOT OF FIREPOWER!!!!!

Answer 4

It depends on the department, some still issue the S&W .38 Special, and that is what you carry, most issue something like a Glock or an S&W semi-auto, just as examples, to those where you are required to provide your own sidearm, and you can carry anything you can qualify with.

Answer 5

I carry a H&K USP 45. The rest of my dept carries glock 21s or 20s

Answer 6

Each department has it's own list of approved firearms. Although some insist that you carry a department issued weapon, others will allow you to carry a firearm that meets the departments standards and that passes inspection by the department armorer, and that you qualify with.

Most departments switched to the wonder nines thinking that the larger magazine capacity would allow them to engage multiple targets and match the firepower from certain groups that they might encounter. BUT, most special weapons teams (swat etc) and many departments are now going back to the .45acp because they find that it is better to end a gunfight with one or two rounds of .45acp rather than spray and pray with a mag full of 9mm. This was demonstrated during the North Hollywood bank robbery and shoot out where the bad guys had body armor and the 9mm rounds just failed to penetrate or even transfer enough energy to the bad guys to stop them. The next best choice for law enforcement is the .40 S&W cartridge which falls in between the 9mm and the .45acp. It is a very good defensive round and has shown great performance in actual shootings.

Some departments still insist that their officers carry a revolver, rather than a pistol. These departments can allow either .357 magnum (mostly rural departments) or limit the officers to carrying .38spcl +P or +P+ ammo because they fear over penetration and law suits.

I know this is all confusing, but hopefully it helped answer your question.

Shoot safe

Answer 7

They carry what the department issues them, but if they are carrying any other guns it is probablly like anyone- have the right permits?

Answer 8

They carry the standard police issue for the area they are in

Answer 9

I believe cops carry a .38, .45, or 9mm depending on what area / type of officer.

I know highway patrol officers in my state (FL) often have 12ga shotguns in their cars.

Answer 10

Most departments by me carry Glocks. Some carry them in 9mm some carry in .40 caliber. Other departments let their officers carry what they want. Some of the officers I know carry Sigs, Berettas, Springfield XDs, and a select few 1911s.

It depends of the department. While off duty, they can carry whatever the wish...for the most part.

Answer 11

no standard rule covering all. it is up to the dept to set their own rules. most either have a couple weapons to choice from or set guidelines. usually minimums are 9mm or .38 cal and they must approve your choice and you must qualify with it. any gun knowledgeable person that feels a .32 is a good choice because it is equal to a .380 is an idiot. if all works well with a .32 (or .380) it will stop someone, but things do not always work out perfect. that's why you do not see the highway patrol carrying .32's even though they would be lighter and more comfortable.

Answer 12

Some stations will allow an officer to provide his own firearm if it's on a preapproved list.

Most stations however issue firearms, and it changes depending on where you are, some stations still use the older S&W .38 Special, some use glocks, some are using Sigs now (though I'm not sure on the caliber)

Answer 13

You've got to find that out from the area where you will be working, every city, or township can have rules.

Answer 14

My BIL the cop has his dept issued Sig and a backup mandated by his department

There is an approved list of firearms he can choose from for the BUG

His is a recycled Smith Airweight taken from a drug dealer and cleaned through the department and legal procedure

My town allows officers to carry whatever they can qualify with from a list of approved firearms, some carry 1911s

Answer 15

Q: what kinds of guns can cops carry? or can they carry any handgun?

A: COPS have guidelines as to what they can, and cannot carry.  The individual department usually dictates what he can carry on and off-duty.  Also, whatever he carries he must be able to qualify with to whatever degree of proficiency his department or State dictates.  

Example:  The police depatment I just retired from had the following guidelines:  

May carry:  Any modern, double-action semi-automatic pistol.  For duty carry:  Caliber must be a minimum of 9mm (many of my fellow officers carried the .40 S&W or the .45 acp.  I carried a 10mm as did a couple of other officers).  

For off-duty carry:  Caliber must be a minimum of .32 Auto (I was instrumental in changing the minimum caliber for off-duty from .380 acp to .32 Auto by demonstrating that the hottest .32 Auto ammo was as good or better than the standard .380 acp or .38 Special ammo.  At the time the .32 Auto was still smaller than the smallest .380s and the Beretta Tomcat 3032 .32 Auto had just appeared on the scene making an excellent last-resort backup weapon).  

Revolvers were approved for off-duty carry provided that they were modern double-action and at least .38 Special caliber.  NOTE:  If a particular officer insisted on carrying a revolver on-duty (uniform carry) it had to be a modern double action (a former sergeant carried a S&W 686 .357 Magnum & a Lieutenant carried a Colt Python .357 Magnum).

On the 'forbidden list' were any kind of single-action pistol or revolver; or single action on the first shot semi-auto, or single-shot or multi-barrel Derringer or Pepperbox type pistols.  These were not approved for on or off-duty carry.  

Additionally our department required that an officer must qualify with a shooting score of at least  80% with any weapon he intended to carry on or off-duty.  The State only required a qualifying score of 70% but in order to carry under the colors of our department the officer had to qualify with at least 80% accuracy.  During my career there I qualified with the Ruger P-85 & later the P-89 (issued handgun); a Colt Python .357 Magnum; a Colt Detective Special .38 Special; a Glock Model 20 10mm (my duty carry automtic for the last 12+ years); a Glock Model 31 .357 Sig; a Beretta 86 .380 acp; two Beretta Models 3032 .32 acp; a Remington 870 12 gauge pump; and a Walter PPK/s stainless .380 acp.  I finally just got my CCW license to stop worrying about having to qualify with every handgun I owned.  Of course, I could only carry under the colors of law those handguns that I was qualified with for duty/off-duty carry.  These finally were just the big 10mm for duty and the petite .32 Tomcat stainless for off-duty & backup.  Now I only have to qualify once a year to maintain my retired officer status.

H