Boston Mayor-Elect Martin Walsh (D) opposes a Boston Police Department (BPD) plan to purchase AR-15 rifles for officers.
According to the Boston Herald, Walsh “came out over the weekend” in opposition to the plan to purchase “33 AR-15 rifles… [that] would go to two trained officers in all 11 districts of Boston.”
Walsh’s spokeswoman Kathryn Norton said the Mayor-Elect “is opposed to the AR-15 rifles. Unless otherwise convinced by the [BPD], he does not think they are necessary.”
City Counselor Charles Yancey echoed Walsh’s sentiments, telling Fox News: “I don’t believe arming [police officers] with ‘assault weapons’ is going to make them any safer.”
A veteran BPD officer counters this by pointing out that the police can easily be outgunned without the rifles.
Mayor-Elect Walsh is a supporter of Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins