What kind of rifle it this French police officer holding?

T

T-90

New member
I saw this pic and was wondering if it was an HK 416, but then I saw the size of the magazine and knew it was chambered in something larger like 7.62x51mm NATO. Its the opening pic on the site. Does anyone know what rifle this is?
 
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My guess is, based on their black berets, they're actually GIGN (Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale), widely considered to be one of the best antiterrorism forces in the world.

Hard to say which arm they're from, but in France GIGN is an arm of the military...
 
T-90, I would recommend changing your link to a permanent link to the story you originally read. The current link takes me to the CNN front page, which is going to change. [OP deleted the link.]

When I clicked on the link, I got a picture of a French policeman holding a gun- but it wasn't a large rifle, it was a Beretta M12 SMG. (Interestingly, most online sources don't indicate that the French gendarmerie uses Beretta M12's, but the news channels are saying that Paris is currently swarming with police, and I surmise that they've dug every available SMG out of storage to ensure that every officer is adequately armed for a firefight.)
 
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IIRC the Gendarmerie Nationale purchased Berettas sometime in the mid 1980s to replace at least some of the MAT 49s that they had been carrying for years.

When I was in France in the early 1980s, terrorism was a ongoing problem.

It wasn't uncommon to see French police directing traffic with a MAS-36 rifle or MAT-49 submachine gun slung over their backs.

In Schipol Airport in Amsterdam I actually saw a VERY attractive lady officer patroling with an M1 Carbine. Her partner had what I seem to recall being an HK submachine gun.
 
When I was in France in the early 1980s, terrorism was a ongoing problem.
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All of Europe's police were armed to the teeth in the mid-late 80's, as I recall ..... it was nothing unusual to see Polezei in Germany patrolling in pairs, one with an Uzi and the other with an attack dog on short leash .... all the border guards at every little Podunk border crossing town, even between neighboring allied countries, had automatic weapons handy and inspected everybody's papers ......
 
all the border guards at every little Podunk border crossing town, even between neighboring allied countries, had automatic weapons handy and inspected everybody's papers ......
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yup and now that we don't have it we've seen an influx of illegal guns and very frequent shootings in Sweden:mad:

I am all for free movement and being able to settle anywhere in the EU but I can accept that they check my bag first

and when problems with illegal guns and crime rises it is us legal gunowners that pay for it
 
When I was in Italy, I think in 2001, we were pulled over by a pair of carabinieri, one of whom had an SMG of some sort. While his partner came up to the car window, he stood off the right front bumper, SMG in his hands -- I made darn sure mine were visible. :eek:

(They pulled us over because we were in a rented car; evidently they were having an epidemic of people stealing them. They ended up being quite apologetic about the whole thing.)
 
My mistake, I meant to save the picture and post it, not post a link with rotating pictures. The pic they had up last night had a guy with a larger rifle that kind of looked like a HK416 but with a larger magazine. Anyway lots gun pics coming out of France, and I do believe we are seeing a lot of the GIGN stuff out there. One thing I noticed about the French. A lot of them seem to be carrying their pistols on the front of their vests. Can't say I have seen that before. Lots of FAMAS out there also.
 
That is what it looked like right there. :cool: Cool looking rifle. I assume the HK 416 and 417 are not available in a civilian platform are they?
 
T-90 said:
I assume the HK 416 and 417 are not available in a civilian platform are they?
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Yes, they are, as the MR556A1 and MR762A1 respectively. I've never seen one; the street price is around $3,500(!), because HK thinks you suck, and they hate you. ;) :rolleyes:

Per the link...
Larry Correia said:
According to the internet, the HK416 is the best gun EVER! It is called THE AWESOME. Lightning bolts of coolness fly from the gun and smite your enemies with Teutonic fury! However you can’t have one, because you’re a civilian, ergo, you suck. And HK hates you.
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I love that passage. :D
 
And by the way, check out our new HK45. We decided that humans don’t need to release the magazine with their thumbs. If you were a really manly teutonic operator, you would be able to reach the controls. Plus we’ve fired 100,000,000 rounds through one with zero malfunctions, and that was while it was buried in a lake of molten lava, on the moon. If you don’t believe us, it is because you aren’t a real operator.
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Comedic GOLD!

I am all for free movement and being able to settle anywhere in the EU but I can accept that they check my bag first
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The fact that you are not an American excuses your utterance of such an un-American idea .....see Benjamin Franklin's famous quote about Liberty and Security ......
 
The fact that you are not an American excuses your utterance of such an un-American idea .....see Benjamin Franklin's famous quote about Liberty and Security ......
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I am assuming he meant traveling between countries in the EU. Crossing international borders.
 
I am assuming he meant traveling between countries in the EU. Crossing international borders.
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Agreed.

Last summer I crossed 13 international borders and only got asked for my papers once! Even then I did not have to get out of the car!

So the EU is great for moving around in and giving life in another corner a go, but if one is below the radar and has miscreant intent it's presumably quite easy to move "stuff" around. If there is an illegal gun problem in Sweden more robust border control would help.
 
I have spent a lot of time in the EU. I tend to think of it more as the United States in terms of internal borders. Nobody is checking you as you travel across State lines

About the same size geographically.

I fully understand they are a bunch of different countries, but they have chosen to ooen the borders and create a Union. Very similar to our states.
 
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