Help!!!

A

AMT8951

New member
I've been tasked with teaching a class in "The History and Development of Police Firearms" at my local police academy. I have about 2wks to throw together a a 50 min presentation. The class will cover police weapons from the 1870's to present. It will mostly deal with patrol type weapons,( ie. pistols, revolvers, shotguns and a little on patrol carbunes), rather than SMG's, sniper rifles, and other "Exotic" Weapons. It will be geared towards police recurits who don't know a heck of a lot about guns.
Anyhow, I need a good, reliable, and legitimate on line source for firearms info. I also need a source for firearms photo's that aren't copy writed. I would greatly appreciate any help that can be provided.

P.S. I'll also probably have some pretty specific firearms related questions that I'll need answered by my fellow forum members in the near future.
 
You might include information about Teddy Roosevelt who standardized Police in NYC. That included a weapon and exams instead of political appointees.Don't have a website.
 
The History Channel has a series, TALES OF THE GUN, and one of the eposides is the history of police guns.
Trooper Mike Conti of the Mass.State Police is on it quite a bit, and they do a great job.
It is probably sold on it's website.
 
This is a great place to start for the info. Otherwise google is you friend. for pictures try securityarms.com, this site google image and manufacturers websites.
 
Mike Irwin on this board seems to know a heckuva lot about guns, and he could probably suggest a book or two for you... may wanna PM him.

Any chance you'd wanna share the presentation with TFL when you're finished? Sounds like it would be interesting! :)
 
Try the NRA?

You might want to send an email to the NRA... ask them what they have on file.

IACP doesn't seem to have anything on their web site, but I know they have a lot of publications available that are not listed either. You may want to try them.

Also, send an email to Smith & Wesson. Somebody there must have most of the information you are looking for.

Good Luck. (If you were looking for the History of [photo] Identification, I could be of more help).
 
I can't help you with the photographs...

Starting out in the 1870s and right up through the first decade or two of the 20th century there would have been a wide variety of handguns that would have been used.

Few police forces were armed wholesale during that time, so it would have been up to the individual officer to arm himself.

You would have seen a wide variety of both cap and ball (Wild Bill Hickock carried a pair of Colt Navy .36s) and Smith & Wesson, Colt, Merwin & Hulbert, and other makers all the way from pocket guns up to the full-size Peacemaker and Schofield type guns.

In the 20th century up through to the 1970s the story was really about two companies, Smith & Wesson and Colt, which owned probably 75% or more of the American police market, with he vast majority of police handguns being revolvers.

After World War II Colt largely surrendered the civilian market to Smith & Wesson, so by the 1970s relatively few police forces were arming their people with Colt revolvers.

By the end of the 1970s the "Wonder 9" cycle had started. Colt didn't have a single entry, and Smith & Wesson had their 39/59 semi-autos, but the lion's share of the new market for police semi-autos started going to companies like Sig, Beretta, and Glock.

Today, the police force that carries a revolver is largely an oddity.
 
+1 on the history channel "Tales of the Gun' Series. Try doing seraches with Colt, S&W, Remington (the 870 shotgun, and the model 700 rifle) Glock and Beretta and the word police. 50 Minute presentation???....man that's long.
 
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