Vancouver residents debate pros and cons of rifle-toting cops on Commercial Drive on Italian Day

by Charlie Smith on June 10th, 2018 at 10:39 PM

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Heavily armed Vancouver police were ready for serious trouble as they were on patrol at Italian Day in Vancouver.

Today, officers were spotted roaming around with what could have been LaRue OBR Sniper Rifles. (The letters OBR are an acronym for Optimized Battle Rifle.)

According to the Texas-based company's website, these weapons sell for US$3,700 each and are "hyper-accurate".

They are definitely part of the VPD's arsenal.

Then again, these arms might have been Colt C8 carbines, which are also in the VPD's inventory of firearms. I'm no expert on this subject.

Whatever they were, their presence on Commercial Drive wasn't universally appreciated, as the tweet below indicates.

https://twitter.com/vanalias/status/1005968894031482882?s=21

Others had a different viewpoint.

CBC Radio-Canada journalist Pierre Martineau noted over Twitter that an officer told him that heavy police firepower was linked to the recent van attack in Toronto.

Another Twitter user, Pete Quily, pointed out that a police officer with a rifle would have far more success than a pistol-bearing cop against an "incel/right-wing/Islamic terrorist" using a vehicle as a weapon.