A Look at one Police Department’s Decision to go Tavor
Jon Stokes 02.25.15
The Tavor has gotten a lot of love since its introduction stateside, and rightly so. I personally am a big fan after having fired one at SHOT, and it’s definitely next on my list. Thanks the presently soft gun market, the Tavor can currently be had for a little over $1,600 if you know where to look. That’s a long drop from north of $2,000 when it debuted, but I don’t think the price on the Tavor (or ARs, for that matter) will stay this low indefinitely. The next panic will send things back through the roof.
The news that the Harrisburg, PA police have picked up the Tavor SAR as a standard issue rifle is pretty old by now, but Tactical Life has just published has an in-depth look at the decision:
The Pennsylvania State Capitol Police just recently adopted the Tavor SAR as its standard-issue rifle for carry in patrol cars and for members of the SRT. “We were getting ready to purchase some new rifles,” explained Jacob, “and one of our firearms instructors, Officer Rebecca McCoy, was at a three-day firearms course where one of the new weapons being demonstrated was the Tavor. While there, she had the opportunity to take a one-day armorer course on the Tavor and came back very impressed with the design and suggested we take a further look at them. Being that IWI’s U.S. headquarters is located right here in Harrisburg, I met with Michael Kassnar, vice president of sales, and IWI General Manager Craig Lucas. I went to the firing range with three of our instructors, and we put between 400 and 500 rounds through each weapon, and we were very impressed with them! We got our SRT people involved, and they liked the Tavor’s bullpup design and the fact that you didn’t give up any barrel length and have the ability to hold the gun on target while reloading. There were just a lot of features on the Tavor that we all liked. After further review, we decided to go with it.”
Currently the Capitol Police has 30 Tavor rifles—one mounted in every patrol car, one for each SRT team member, and there are additional rifles kept in the Capitol armory.
Of course, Harrisburg isn’t the only city to go Tavor. Police in Lakewood, NJ have made the jump, as well.
Do you guys know of any other police departments here in the US that are now issuing the Tavor? Sound off in the comments, below.
