• Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    57·
    16 hours ago

    The far better question is why they need assault rifles?

    A suppressor is actually a good thing to put on any weapon. That’s why they’re becoming standard in the military. Guns are unbelievably loud, to the point that they can cause serious and permanent hearing damage to people around you when you fire them. If you’re accepting the premise that an armed police force is a good thing (I disagree, but that’s a separate discussion) it at least makes sense to minimize collateral damage. The sound of gunfire is especially dangerous indoors; if an officer was forced to fire their weapon in an environment like they could actually seriously injure innocent bystanders just from the noise alone.

    On the other hand, collateral damage is exactly why a 5.56mm carbine makes no sense as a police weapon. Those rounds will go straight through a human body, straight through a brick wall, and still be lethal. You could end up killing someone you can’t even see. It used to be that when law enforcement wanted extra firepower, they used submachine guns and shotguns, weapons with very little potential for overpenetration. But then police forces all started freaking out about the idea that every criminal was going to be wearing level 3 body armour and demanding to use the same guns soldiers use (not helped by the fact that cops in the US are allowed to buy surplus military equipment at knockdown prices).

    This doesn’t come from an operational need, it comes from the fact that every cop wants to cosplay at being military, but without all the hardships that actually come with that. That’s why you see federal agents and SWAT all running around in multicam and other military camo patterns, despite the fact that those patterns really don’t do much of anything in an urban environment. It’s all just dress up to make their peepees feel bigger.

    • modus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      12 hours ago

      Well said. If you’ve ever been next to someone at an indoor range firing large caliber rounds without a suppressor, it’s very unpleasant to be near them if you’re plinking 9mm or 22lr.

      I support taking supressors off the NFA (and also abolishing the NFA altogether, but that’s another argument). Calling them silencers is incorrect. They’re safety devices. Some states don’t even classify them as firearms. Any supersonic round is still loud enough to require ear protection.

      • TimmyDeanSausage @lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        11 hours ago

        YES. That is the most annoying shit ever. I’m just tryna have a good time practicing good technique with a handgun and I have to sit and listen to some moron spray hundreds of dollars worth of ammo away so they can feel like they’re the coolest dude at the range. Then they leave and we all look around at each other like “thank fuck that asshole is finally gone eye roll emoji”

    • Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      8 hours ago

      Those rounds will go straight through a human body, straight through a brick wall, and still be lethal.

      This is incorrect. The 5.56 / .223 cartridge is not like in the movies. The nose of the bullet deforms on impact by design.

      There are precious few cartridges that will “go through a brick wall”. There are even fewer that would be lethal on the other side of that wall.

      My thought is that these rifles have no business being leveraged for this application.