Undisputable idiot dickery

Dye Playa wrote: A 7mm bullet is still going to drop someone no problem, and it's going to do it more accurately and at a much greater distance than a shotgun. For cops, shotguns have to be the most useless and unpractical weapon, why they carry them is beyond me.

Uh... no...

Two words: "Riot Control"

Shotguns are amoung some of the most flexable weapons out there, and (I'm sorry to say that you're wrong on this) extremely practical given the right situation.

Anything from buckshot, birdshot, bean bags, rifled and smoothed bored slugs and sabots, door breeching rounds, rubber "riot rings," Smoke and tear gas grenade launchers, hell... mossberg even makes a 3 or 4 prong climbing hook with a spool of steel cable for climbing purposes. You can even shoot rock salt out of a scatter-gun (usually less-lethal, but painful as anything can be - aside from an actual bullet) If you can fit it into the chamber and fire it with out damaging the barrel or mechanism, chances are it will work in a shotgun (maybe not always effectively, but hey)

Targets can be accurately engaged from suprisingly long distances with a rifled, saboted slug. If you know what you're doing, a slug's accuracy at 150-175 yds or less, can rival that of most off the shelf rifles.

Shotguns are very practical for most situations, if you ask me, but not all. You'll still need the good old 300 Win Mag for the determined fighters at long ranges, or when shot placement matters.

There are a very large number of purpose-built shotguns out there that get the job done very well, but there is just no replacing the medium and high powered rifle category; that's one thing I can aagree on.

I'm not bashing your post, just rambling on.

I think Hysteria hit on one major concern of mine here.  In my experience, all too many cops don't spend enough time at the range as it is, and they mostly shoot "easy" weapons like 9mm semi-autos.

Any full auto weapon, even a cute widdle one like an MP5, requires special training and lots of it in order for the shooter to be actually useful, let alone not dangerous to lots of bystanders.

I'm ok with the gun-loving cops having whatever toys they want, but it makes me a little uneasy to consider your average undertrained beat cop carrying a full auto weapon of any kind.  AR15s seem to be a good compromise.  More firepower when needed, without adding unnecessary danger to random passers-by.