Dept of Agriculture Orders Submachine Guns with 30 Round Magazines

[roo_ster]

Still don't think any federales save those directly involved with POTUS/witness/VIP protection should be armed.  If they can not convince the locals to provide the muscle, perhaps that is an indication that they are not doing the right thing.

[KD5NRH]

As for an appropriate long arm for an LEO in the forest, why not dig around some of those .mil surplus places and dig out some M-1s, or M-14s?  Pleanty of accuracy, plenty of power, and the price is right.

Heavy and long, not ideal in a dense wood or brush area with a lot of ground to cover on foot.  Lots of common hunting rifles are available in carbine lengths, and prove themselves ideal for this use every hunting season.  For accessory interchangeability and common manual of arms with pretty much everybody else, (also leveraging prior military experience) off-the-shelf civilian-legal AR10s, with an option to rebarrel in .243 for places without grizzlies, moose or polar bears, would be ideal.  .308, for the rangers who don't mind a bit of kick and overkill against javelina or rabid beavers, makes a nice engine breaker with a mag of AP.

[KD5NRH]

Still don't think any federales save those directly involved with POTUS/witness/VIP protection should be armed.  If they can not convince the locals to provide the muscle, perhaps that is an indication that they are not doing the right thing.

I'd still keep the USMS armed, with some very heavily armed; after all, somebody needs to be able to bust the local/county/state LE when corruption happens there.  That would be pretty much the only thing added to their mission, though, along with a sternly worded admonition to not act outside said mission on anyone's orders, and some long, detailed and very transparent process for modification.