[Lord Soth]

Are there any restrictions as to what individual police officers can buy as far as weapons? Can cops buy for instance post ban H&K MP5s over the counter?

[DeltaElite]

I've been told I need Dept letterhead, signed by a boss authorizing me to buy the weapon or magazines. If they are of the restricted kind due to the 1994 legislation.
I have only bought mags of the restricted kind, so I am no expert on the matter.

[LawDog]

Okay, remember that this process may vary from state to state and department to department.

In these parts, if an LEO spends his own personal money for a firearm, he's limited to the exact same things that anybody else can get.

Regular capacity magazines and the high-speed stuff is owned by the department and issued to the officers.

Now, it's possible to get the really fancy stuff, but an officer doesn't really own them, despite having paid for them.

The process is as follows:

Step One: Find latest Supercool uber-weapon in gun magazine.

Step Two: Go to Sheriff/Chief of Police and inform him that you simply must have this weapon, or you will perish. Snivelling may or may not help.

Step Three: Sheriff laughs in your face, says, "Tough, practice more often with what ya got, and if you're gonna croak, do it on your own time."

Step Four: Repeat steps Two and Three until the Sheriff finally breaks down and writes a letter to the manufacturer of said uber-weapon, asking the manufacturer to send one uber-weapon to your Department.

Step Five: Hand personal check for amount of uber-weapon to County Treasurer. Plan on writing a four-digit check ($X,XXX.xx...uber-weapons are never cheap).

Voila! Your County now owns an uber-weapon, that you paid for, and they even let you carry it. Be advised that if you leave the County, they still own the toy, and you may or may not be compensated for the amount of money you spent to buy the weapon for the County (Hah! County parting with money -- I slay me), but you ain't gonna get to take it with you.

LawDog

[Joe Demko]

In the Sheriff's Office with which I am associated, we can purchase only the same toys John Q. is allowed to buy. The Sheriff, hisself, can purchase all manner of exotic and fascinating things that go bang, but they belong to the Office, not to him. If any of us, including hisself, leave/quit/retire the exotic and fascinating things that go bang stay behind. In a way, this is really amusing when you consider that we have to purchase our own handguns. So if you choose a Glock or other hi-cap weapon, the department will allow you to purchase some hi-cap magazines for the department to lend you.

[Hkmp5sd]

In regards to automatic weapons, in all states, an individual officer must obey the same laws as everyone else to buy a machinegun. If allowed by the state of residence, he can purchase a pre '86 registered machinegun like the average citizen. If not allowed by the state or for any machinegun manufactured after the '86 ban, the department may own the weapon and issue it to the LEO for official duties. When the LEO leaves the department, the machinegun stays, regardless of who coughed up the money to buy it.

Hopefully, after next year, the magazine capacity issue will no longer be an issue.

[cordex]

Policemen can buy:
Milk
Eggs
Bread
Peanut Butter
Hammers
Televisions
....

OH! Gun stuff...

Can PDs gift post-ban semi-auto "AW"s to officers at retirement? Thought I'd heard somewhere that this was allowed.