Arizona State Cops Will Be Armed With Semiautomatic Rifles

Arizona State University police officers will now be armed with high-powered, assault-style rifles, the State Press reports. The school so far has bought four semiautomatic rifles costing $700 each and hopes to have its entire force armed with the rifles by the summer. Officers will be required to undergo around 40 hours of training, and the weapons will be kept in patrol cars. Police say the guns will allow officers to better respond to sniper scenarios or situations like the Virginia Tech assault, although the police commander points out the plan to buy the weapons had been in the works before the 2007 shootings.

The University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University police departments soon will be following suit; several other police departments in the University of California and California State University systems already are armed with similar weaponry, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

Reader Comments Read all comments (1)

Add Your Thoughts

Comment Name State Select One AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY International Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Incorrect please try again

Enter the words above: Enter the numbers you hear:

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.