CHP Arms Rural Officers With Semiautomatic Rifle

Threatened by the superior firepower of drug traffickers, the Highway Patrol is quietly arming its officers in rural regions of California with semiautomatic rifles identical to the weapons used by prison guards in gun towers.

CHP Commissioner M.J. (Maury) Hannigan said Friday that 173 of the rapid-firing Ruger Mini-14 rifles have been deployed to CHP posts from Eureka to El Centro and 77 more will soon be issued.

The Mini-14 had been on the Legislature’s list of military-style assault weapons to be outlawed. But the popular firearm was removed under pressure from hunters and ranchers who use them for target practice, hunting small game and shooting varmints and was not included in the weapons ban bill sent to Gov. George Deukmejian on Thursday.

Extra Protection

In an interview, Hannigan said that with increasing frequency, his officers are making traffic stops only to discover that the vehicles are transporting illicit drugs and both semiautomatic and illegal fully automatic weapons.

“We need the extra margin of protection,” Hannigan said of the decision to equip CHP officers with the high firepower Mini-14s. The rifles will supplement the .38-caliber revolver and 12-gauge shotgun that officers have been issued for years.

Hannigan said one particular incident in a remote region of Northern California illustrated the need to better arm CHP officers who often work alone.

The patrolman was in pursuit of a speeding vehicle, Hannigan recalled, when the fleeing driver rounded a curve out of the officer’s view, “pulled to the side of the road and opened up on him with a rifle. The officer was pinned down and had no way to defend himself at that distance.” Eventually, the shooter ran out of ammunition and the officer was unhurt, Hannigan said.

The semiautomatic rifles are issued to officers who patrol remote areas where the nearest backup officer can be an hour or more away. In urban areas, patrol officers who draw fire can radio for help and receive support within minutes from local police or sheriff’s departments, Hannigan noted.

Greater Range

The .223-caliber Mini-14 is equipped with a detachable 20-round magazine and will give officers an effective shooting range of about 300 yards, considerably farther than their revolvers and shotguns.

Since 1980, California prison guards in gun towers overlooking the perimeters of institutions have been armed with Mini-14s. Last fall, guards on duty inside the prisons were issued Heckler & Koch-94s, a short-range rifle that wound up on the Legislature’s list of assault weapons prohibited for civilians.

Hannigan said the CHP’s plan to acquire the Mini-14s at a cost of $275 each was contained in the department’s budget for the current fiscal year, but actual arming of the officers was not publicly announced because “I didn’t want to advertise it.”

He said each CHP office responsible for rural areas either already has or soon will be issued the weapons. These include Victorville, Fort Tejon, Newhall, Verdugo Hills, Blythe, El Cajon, El Centro, Eureka, Yreka, Redding, Placerville, Lake Tahoe and Quincy.

Hannigan said that with increasing frequency officers “make a traffic stop and it ends up to be an arrest for large quantities of drugs. We frequently will find weapons, semiautomatic and automatic . . . Uzis and MAC-10s. . . .

“Our guys are out there all alone and when they are under rifle fire, it is nice to come up with something that they can defend themselves with.”

The CHP said state police officers in at least 29 other states are issued semiautomatic rifles similar to the Mini-14. The CHP’s rifles will be kept in a locked mount next to the shotguns in patrol cars.