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What characteristics are needed in a duty weapon? By Jack Justice When I was first sworn in as a police officer I was required to choose a duty weapon, it was 1978 and the process was pretty simple. You could use any weapon you desired as long as it was a revolver made by Colt or Smith & Wesson, had a 4" barrel and it could fire 38 specials. Time moves on and today and the choices are staggering. There are many makers, models and calibers to choose from and it can be overwhelming for agencies and officer to decide what is best for them. Revolvers are seldom seen other than at some guard agencies and as a backup weapon to a duty pistol. Police officers often have their weapon furnished or specified by their department. One very popular choice is to select a full size pistol for uniformed duty and a compact version of the same weapon for plain clothes or off duty assignment. Many police officers use the compact version of their duty weapon as their backup weapon while on duty. This provides the ability to use the same magazines in their backup as their primary in case of a failure or the loss of the main duty weapon. As a church security officer we have similar needs as the officers on our local police department. While most of us will not carry a weapon openly, the same selection process used by plain clothes officers and detectives will apply to us. We owe it to our congregation and our loved ones to choose the proper weapon for use as our defensive sidearm. Some of the considerations for making our selection include:
Dependable If the sidearm does not go bang every time we pull the trigger, it is not acceptable! I have guns that are range toys that are fun to shoot but that I would never choose to defend my life or that of family, friends and church members. My weapon must have had a minimum of 250 rounds of duty ammunition through it without a fault before I will carry it on duty. The current sidearm I am using has well over 5,000 rounds through it and has yet to fail to load or fire anything I have fed it. This provides a significant level of comfort when you are called into a tense situation. The last thing on your mind must not be “Will my weapon fire this time or will it jam?”. There are very few problems with today’s quality firearms but many issues still leave the factory and are only caught by the end user. When you are at the range this is not a problem but if you are moving to stop an active Killer and have never fired the weapon before, are concerned about reliability or are not sure of the point of impact, you have made a bad decision. A sidearm of acceptable caliber for the task What do I choose? 380, 38, 357, 9mm, 40, 10mm, 45 and on and on. For years there have been countless magazine articles and endless discussions on the perfect caliber for personal defense and law enforcement use. On several occasions the discussion has turned heated, with friends almost brought to fisticuffs when they disagree with a choice of caliber. Today we are fortunate to have a large selection of calibers, bullets types and weights that are very dependable in a reliable sidearm. What you need to understand is that the term “Stopping Power” is not an issue with the major calibers used in law enforcement and security. Although I will offend many, please understand that no handgun normally carried today by law enforcement or security forces is a guaranteed man stopper. A handgun is not powerful enough to perform a one shot stop. All of us are familiar with the person flying through the air after being shot in the movies. It doesn’t work that way. In understanding physics, if the weapon is powerful enough to do that, the recoil would do the same to the shooter. Handguns are used by police and security because they are convenient, not because they are the preferred weapon to take into a fight. If we know we are going into a fight, we want the best weapon available such as a rifle or shotgun but since we do not always know when fight days are, we are forced to depend on a handgun since that is what is at hand. The most common choice today is the 9mm, 40 S&W, and the 45ACP. Twenty years ago the 45 ACP was the king of stopping power and many of us move The recoil of the 9mm is manageable by most people and the combat accuracy in a quality sidearm typically exceeds the requirements of a duty weapon.
A Suitable Magazine Capacity I like having more rounds in the sidearm. When I carried a revolver, I would go on duty with 18 rounds of ammunition, six in the weapon and two reloads on the belt. Today I carry 18 rounds in my duty weapon with two backup magazines with 17 rounds in each. Since we all acknowledge that we cannot count on a single round to incapacitate an evil doer, we need to plan on being generous with ammo. With the recent history of active shooter/killers, and the possibility of interdicting multiple offenders such as in Columbine, I desire to carry a generous number of rounds to give to evildoers. The off duty officer at the Trolly Square shooting was carrying a 45 with 8 rounds and no reloads. When he was down to a few rounds left and the fight was still on, I am sure his desire for a spare magazine was very intense. I have talked to a number of people who have been involved in gun fights and none of them have ever wished for less ammo then or in the future. With that in mind, the 9 mm permits me the greatest number of rounds per weapon and magazine of any of the preferred calibers for a duty weapon. A typical duty weapon in 9mm will have a magazine capacity of 14 to 19 rounds and the compact version of the same weapon is 10 to 13 rounds. Since many determined felons have absorbed multiple hits and continued the fight, I believe the high capacity pistol has come of age and is the proper selection for the church security officer. Ability to easily conceal the firearm. Since most of us will need to carry concealed and will not perform uniformed duties that require open carry, the ability to easily conceal a suitable sidearm is critical. Most of the churches that Church Security Alliance has worked with that have incorporated armed officers, that fact is normally kept very low profile. This is due to the need to keep the church seen as being friendly and a safe harbor to attend. The thought of having armed guards known publicly, brings on the fear of losing members and creating an atmosphere of fear and uneasiness. Thus the need to keep a low profile on any firearms carried in the church. Successful concealed carry is dependent on the type of weapon, the clothing worn and the physical characteristics of the person carrying the weapon. To maintain a low profile while carrying a sidearm you need to have a quality holster, belt and dress around the sidearm. With the proper holster and a suitable cover garment, most people can carry a full size weapon and virtually all can carry the compact edition of major duty weapons. Although many people resort to mini guns or what is termed as a “Mouse Gun” for carry to avoid dealing with issues of clothing, as an armed church security officer, you have committed to stand in the gap if a violent incident occurs. This means you must have an adequate sidearm carried in a professional manner and be still be very low profile.
Combat accurate and controllable. When we talk about pistol accuracy, understand that most firearms are significantly more accurate than the people that are shooting them. While some firearms have been designed and tuned for target accuracy, we are looking at needing “Combat Accuracy” For my officers this means having the ability to keep their rounds in a six inch circle at 7 yards. In reviewing a large number of police and security shootings the vast majority happen in the two foot to 15 foot range. While I still train at longer distances, I understand that most critical incidents happen at close range. Your duty sidearm must also be controllable when it comes to rapid fire. The need to deliver multiple shots to the target very quickly is an ability that you must own. You must train frequently and understand the firearm and where the rounds will be going when you squeeze the trigger.
Simple to operate under high stress. In the days of revolvers, the operation of a sidearm was extremely simple, to aimed at the target and pulled the trigger. The semi automatics available then has manual safeties, some had magazine safeties or grip safeties. Several had more than one means of keeping the Once the Glock 17 hit the market, the transition to the semi-automatic sidearm took off like a rocket. The Glock had no safety that was consciously removed to fire the weapon. The transition training for revolver officers was simple, other than weight of the trigger pull, operating the Glock was just like the revolver. Pulling the trigger fired the sidearm. Clearing and reloading the weapon needed to be changed but the entry of the Glock made the first major upgrade to defensive sidearm in years. Today, many other weapons mimic the simple operation of the Glock such as the S&W M&P series, Kahr and the Springfield XD/XDM family.
Maintainable. The ability to maintain a duty firearm is critical. In years past, it was normal to have a custom gunsmith do a reliability tune up on typical pistols such as the 1911, the Browning Hi-Power and the S&W 39/59 series. This was very important if you were permitted to use hollow points in your duty weapon. With today’s typical duty weapons, this is thankfully, not the normal case. These weapons are not hand fitted and parts interchangeability is considered normal. With many brands, spare parts are available to anyone and can be very easily changed if you have a problem or need to adjust the trigger for pull weight. The field stripping is much simpler than earlier semi-automatics. Typically you will clear the weapon and then use a take down lever to remove the slide assembly from the frame. The recoil spring assembly and barrel are then removed. That is all you need to do to clean and lube the sidearm. No cross pins to get lost or barrel bushings to deal with or to get lost. For friends working in gun stores, it was not unusual have have a customer bring in a bag of parts that used to be a firearm and ask to get it reassembled. With most major brands there will be a local gunsmith to keep the sidearm operation if any work is needed. The manufacturing process of today’s high quality parts has eliminated hand fitting of parts for most duty weapons.
Suitable carry systems available The key to successfully concealing your duty weapon is choosing the right holster , belt and clothing. Over the years I have seen officers accumulate a large number of holsters while trying to find the best method of carrying in plain clothes and off duty. Some have been more successful than others. We also need to look at the mindset of the plain clothes officer in regards to carrying a weapon, if the weapon is seen or the officer prints it is not a big deal unless the officer is in an undercover situation where a gun must not be found. For the church security officer, it is critic
Find a comfortable, concealable carry mode and stay with it as much as possible. Always practice at the range in this mode. If you are using a cover garment you should NOT practice with an uncovered weapon. If your mode is always changing you will not build muscle memory, smoothness or speed. Please do not be the weapon and holster of the week guy with a constantly changing selection. Conclusion My model Smith & Wesson 19 is like a long lost friend when it comes out of the safe for a trip to the range but when I go on duty today, I have a new modern companion that has replaced my old friend. I have thousands of rounds fired in training through this weapon and with the same carry system. As time moves on the wisdom of this change becomes more apparent. As I read of numerous incidents were multiple offenders must be dealt with by law officers, security officers and even civilian concealed carriers, the comfort of carrying a modern high capacity semi automatic duty weapon provides a greater level of confidence than years ago when I carried the six shot revolver. My recommendation is to choose a quality sidearm and carry belt, holster and mag pouch and train with them until they become part of you
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If you decided to choose a version that was a 357 Magnum that was fine and you could carry magnum rounds in the revolver but all reloads had to be 38 specials. This was so you could share your ammo with any other officer that might run out of ammunition at a critical time. The big decision was Colt or Smith. Colts were fine weapon but the majority of the officers carried Smiths. This was mainly due to the fact that Smith was the dominant player in the market and the price was 20% to 30% less than the Colt. We had 6 rounds in the weapon and 12 more in drop pouches or the more savvy used speed loaders. Those of us who had been in hairy situations started to carry a second gun in an ankle holster or pocket holster, typically a S&W J frame, Colt Detective or Agent. Semi Automatic handguns were considered complicated and unreliable by management and other than some progressive agencies and special units, were off limits. The semi-auto choices in those days were few and included the colt 1911, S&W Model 39/59 and the Browning Hi-Power. It was often said that "Six for Sure" was preferred.
sidearm non-functional. In many instances, while under high adrenaline stress levels, officers missed the manual safety or did not fully depress the grip safety. This prevented the officer from returning fire.
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