Rifles? Not for You

From the comments:

• SCC: I volunteered for the carbine training I thought to myself "wow cool we are finally catching up to small town departments, finally moving out of the 80's". Then I'm told in order for me to be even considered for training I have to take a powertest and if I failed I'd be sent home. Is this the most retarded thing you've ever heard? I'm a fucking Marine, I was in two wars I don't need to do a damn powertest to use this weapon, I've killed enemy soldiers with it. So basically u can be an absolute retard and so long as u pass a powertest u get to carry a carbine? But if ur fully qualified and fail after the departments whole 3 day notice of a powertest your not good enough???? Wow J-Fed ur not very intelligent are you? Find me a department in the world that makes their officers be physically fit in order to carry a bigger weapon, you won't!!! Thanks for throwing ur steroid fitness shit around numbnuts. An M-4 weighs 9 lbs fully loaded not very physically draining. Oh by the way I dropped out of that class F him, I'll take my marine marksmanship elsewhere!!

To reply to the first question - No, this isn't the most retarded thing we've ever heard. This reply comes close though:

• You didn't drop from the class you failed the power test. Look devil dog you can't do that power test, then you don't deserve to carry that M4. Don't care what you did then, what can you do now. Bitch boy failing the test. Good you probably can't shoot either FAT ASS

Typical dumbass response by someone who knows nothing about shooting and pretty much nothing about police work. We can name half a dozen cops off the tops of our heads who shoot better than anyone on SWAT. And yeah, some of them aren't in the best shape, but they come home each and every year with their limit of deer, ducks, pheasant and quail. Some of it is in our freezer right now (no, we didn't shoot it - we're capable shooters, but not in their class).

The point is, they know guns. They've been around them their whole lives. They've made it a point to become proficient in the use of firearms. Who gives a rats ass if they can't bench press 80 or 90% of their body weight? Do you really care that they ran 1.5 miles in 18 minutes instead of 15 minutes?

You shouldn't. All you should care about is if they can hit a target at 100 feet or 100 yards on a consistent basis. And that isn't some miraculous talent granted only to the blessed. It's a completely trainable skill that needs to be honed regularly. Give us the slightly out of shape ex-military cop from the district, on scene within 2 minutes of the 10-1 over the Gun Team or SWAT sniper 15 minutes distant every single time. If you want to volunteer for rifles, you should be granted the chance. A capable instructor should be able to tell if you're trainable within a few minutes and once trained, you should be tested monthly. Training should be based on US Military standards adapted for civilian law - how long is basic rifle training? More than an 8 hour tour we're sure.

Seriously, a power test to handle a rifle? Another boneheaded idea.

UPDATE: More people missing the point in the comment section.

If there's a HBT incident and a crazy person is holed up with hostages and guns and making outrageous demands, yes, we'd call SWAT. They are trained to handle such situations and have the equipment.

But what if you stumble across a North Hollywood bank robbery? What if you have coppers stumble across a carload of bangers out to do a hit? What about a school shooter where the first four cops on the scene are REQUIRED by general order to enter the building armed only with what the have - OC, stick and pistol against god knows what.

THAT is exactly why have rifles on the street is necessary. So what if someone didn't pass the power test - they aren't carrying the rifle from the station. And we highly doubt you're going to be pulling out the rifle on every single domestic, every disturbance, every traffic stop - you'd be a fucking idiot. The people presenting these arguments are creating strawmen that have no basis in real police work. Try not to sound like a wet-behind-the-ears rookie if you want to make a point.