The police departments of the towns of Gurnee, Mundelein, Waukegan, and Lake Zurich are finally being issued civilian AR15s and Ruger Mini-14s. Why they aren't being issued military full-auto or burst versions, I don't know.

I would like to give the police officers of those towns a big welcome to the club.
If any of you police officers need specialized training or any other info on semi-auto weapons and accessories, just ask one of us Illinois citizens who are honored to have a FOID card. We're glad that you have the same firepower as we do to protect us. Or were we civilians supposed to protect the police? I forget. [;D]

Some police departments don't have semi-auto rifles because the $700 per rifle price tag is too much tax-payer money for them to protect us citizens. [>:/]

[b]ArmaLiter[/b]

Dont forget about Mt. Prospect, Arl Heights,
Downers Grove, and a couple of others.

The 'man does not need that type of firepower on the streets. We have effective gun control laws,and no citizen is armed. [BD]
c-rock

Do LEOs have to have FOID cards?

I hope someone shows them how to use those rifles or you are going to hear about people getting shot in their homes by stray rounds from across town. Seems the police are always emptying the mags on their pistols; I can't imagine the damage from 3 or 4 cops emptying out 30 round mags of 5.56mm.

Yes,
you own a gun, you must have a FOID.

You mean they'll get 30 round magazines???
I'll be surprised they'll get 20 rounders.
Heck, the 10 rounder that comes with the rifle may be too much for them to handle.

But if they need some pre-ban USGI 30 rounders, we can give them some places to buy them. [:D]

[b]ArmaLiter[/b]

When Daley gets his way, and the surrounding 'burbs decide to step in line and begin confiscating firearms (a la CAGE unit), they have to have [i]something[/i] to use to take yours.  By force, if necessary.  When your overseers begin to arm up, that [i]can't[/i] be good news.

Re the full auto thing, very few police agencies are buying full auto stuff these days.  Current police thinking is that aimed semi auto fire is much more effective than spraying full auto.  Frankly, I agree. For every situation where full auto might be useful to a police operation, there are probably 100 where it wouldn't, and might even be harmful.

I firgured they were. A lot come into the shop I go too, and when they want to look at a piece,or buy ammo, the dude asks for a foid, and they pop one out.
c-rock

Good thing that they got 'em.  Those suburbs are real hotbeds! [;)]

I think they should be issued bats, there is no reason for them to have guns now because all the criminals don't get to own guns anymore because of the new gun laws and chicago has become sooo peaceful.

Funny thing is that the city of Chicago-The Murder Capital of the Nation does not allow its police to have rifles or shotguns in patrol cars due to criticism from the dumb-ass liberal community that seems to support they're own gang-bangers rather than possible excessive police force upon criminals.
Defenseless law-abiding Chicagoan + heavely-armed criminal who doesn't care about gun laws + lightly armed police = dead Chicagoan and dead police officer

I stay away from the city of Chicago as much as I can. Many people can't seem to understand why.

[b]ArmaLiter[/b]

I'm pretty sure the AR-15s are replacing the shotguns most cops usually carry in their squad cars. AR-15s with M193 rounds are a better choice any day, they don't overpenetrate, they're accurate, and they're a hell of a manstopper. Not to mention that aimed fire (ranged or otherwise) will produced significantly lower collateral damage than shotgun shells. I don't know about you but a bunch of cops are going to shoot it out with BGs in an urban area I'd rather they use AR-15s instead of shotguns and handguns. You hear about handgun rounds penetrating houses and killing people all the time.

And as far as the law, I believe they are exempt from the "assault weapons ban" (hence the LEO-only mags and rifles with flast suppressors, etc) but they still need approval for full-auto weapons, all only that can be used in the execution of their duties (IE they can't own these weapons). Typically only SWAT are approved for such things.

Full auto is a serious liability for most police. An AR-15 is just what the Police need to carry. Remember unlike a battle field civilians are all around.

PS Does Chicago have a fully armed SWAT/ERT team or is that too lightly armed?
CRC