Sunday, September 13, 2009

Sunshine and firepower

Today at Centennial Park the Howard County SWAT team was displaying some of their weapons and equipment as part of the Police Pace 5K. Below is a pic of three firearms.



The weapon in the middle is a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun, which is generally considered the best submachine gun in world. These guns can fire as much as 900 rounds per minute in full-auto mode. If it looks familiar, think back to Elian Gonzalez.

I briefly spoke with one of the tactical team members who confirmed that the assault rifle that was stolen from the unoccupied patrol car in Elkridge still has not been recovered after nine months. He said that they served several warrants looking for the rifle, but it wasn't there. Although the officer did not mention it, one of those failed raids resulted in the shooting of a family dog.

The tactical team member I spoke with was very polite and professional, but when I asked about the shooting of the dog during on of those raids, he said the problem was that the dog "attacked a few of the officers", and the officers had to defend themselves.

I suppose the dog could make that same self-defense argument, although with much more justification. After all, the tactical teams busted down the door of an apparently innocent person. The dog was responding to the threat the officers presented to the dog's owners. The officers were wholly unprepared to deal with the dog in any manner other than a spray of gunfire. Unfortunately, the dog does not have a police union and politicians to make its apologies. Nor do our tax dollars provide training to dogs on how to deal with police raids (at least not yet, but you never know with these politicians).

The Howard County Police Department continues to be silent about the details of the raid, even 9 months later. Other than Police Chief McMahon smiling for the reporters and telling us that the investigation is continuing (this was back in February), the police top brass have made no effort to let the public know what's going on.

For the gun buffs: I'm not sure what the rifle is on the left (looks like some kind of H&K version of an AR-15), and the shotgun on the right is a Remington 870 (express?) similar to one of my 870s. I think the thing on the end of barrel is for shooting locks off of doors.

2 comments:

Bob O said...

Yes, the muzzle attachment on the shottie helps dissapate backblast and recoil whilst taking out hinges or locks on a door. Otherwise, it does not have any effect on the utility of the weapon other than to make it muzzle heavy.

The weapon on the right appears to be an M-4 knock off (Bushmaster?) with a rail for mounting sights. That looks like a red-dot tactical sight on there in the photo.

12-gauge pump, best thing every developed for goose hunting or home defense. Glad you have one.

Bob O said...

Sorry, the one on the left appears to be the M-4 knock off...fast typing slays spelling and clarity. My apologies.