Boston Strong or Boston Stupid?

In light of recent events, including the Boston bombing’s, and increased number of school shootings, Boston’s finest has decided that it is time for them to increase their arsenal with the addition of 33 AR15 rifles.

The only problem with this idea is that one man stands in their way. Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh does not like AR15’s and feels that his police department doesn’t need them to keep the people of Boston safe. “Mayor-elect Walsh is opposed to the AR-15 rifles,” his spokeswoman Kathryn Norton said in a short statement yesterday. “Unless otherwise convinced by the Boston Police Department, he does not think they are necessary.”

The proposal is for 33 AR15’s coming in at the amount of $2,500 each. They would go to two specially trained officers in each of their 11 precincts. It has not been stated where the other 11 would end up. It would be safe to assume that each precinct would have one backup rifle.

According to Boston police spokesman Sgt. Mike McCarthy the rifles would be strictly regulated and would not be used during routine patrol. Use of the weapons could include an active-shooter incident, firing on a suspect from a distance and confronting a suspect wearing body armor.

Evidently Martin Walsh has not seen the footage from the North Hollywood shootout in 1997 where officers were outgunned and had to resort to a local gun store to acquire AR15’s to fight the gunmen who had much more superior firepower available. Then again maybe he knows he can rely on the heavy police presence that was evident during the manhunt for alleged Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Read the full story here.

Face Armor

Every once and a while a fad will hit the shooting community, the one I am talking about today has many names such as, tactical beard, face armor, combat beard, as well as a few other new names popping up every day. The ancient Greeks viewed beards as a sign of virility; Spartans even punished cowards by shaving off portions of their beard. Have you ever seen a picture of clean shaven Viking? I didn’t think so.

While some would argue that the origins of the modern tactical beard can be traced back to a Chris Costa, I believe it was a picture of a Green Beret, call sign “Cowboy” operating in Afghanistan in 2002. Many Special Forces operators would grow beards until their ban in 2010 to help build the trust of local elders in Afghanistan, in the civilian world the only tactical advantage that a beard offers is for dropping panties according to Matt Devito.

The disadvantage to those wearing a full set of face armor is that it may interfere with equipment such as gas masks, respirators as well as other medical equipment hence the military’s policy against facial hair. This is important to remember for those people that have gas masks as part of their preps. They will ultimately not be able to get a good seal on the mask.

Everyone wants the latest and greatest gear that SF is running. All you have to do is visit any forum or social media page and watch the pissing matches commence over gear. There is always the one guy that states “It’s what the SEALs use.” Face armor is just one thing closer to getting them to feel like they are real life SEALs. Just add thumb over bore shooting technique, rock tape, and they will be shooting better in no time.  

Who do you think has the best tactical beard?