[Rick Lee]

I don't have a problem with cops having big guns. Although a surplus M1 Garande could do incredible damage and at long distances, modern AR-15-style rifles are soooo much lighter and easier to carry, you can collapse the stocks to make them easier to store and they have all kinds of great options for lights, lasers, additional grips, bipods, you name it. I'd much rather have the semi-auto M4 I currently have, even if I were a cop than a full auto MP-5. (But man, are MP-5's fun at the range if you ain't paying for the ammo.)

Those bank robbers in the N. Hollywood shootout were wearing body armor, which is one reason they lasted so long against barages of handgun bullets. No machine gun was gonna do much good there either unless it used something in the .223 range or higher, preferably .308. IIRC, the cops actually had to go borrow a few AR's from a local gun store to take those guys down. Being that outgunned is criminal in itself.