Brown County Sheriff’s Office recently received new weapons thanks to a grant from the National Rifle Association.

According to BCSO Captain Vance Hill, BCSO received a grant of $8071.20 to purchase 8 AR 15 semi .223 caliber 5.56 mm automatic rifles equipped with scopes and lights; however, they were able to get a good price on the firearms and purchased 9, enough for all eight of their patrolmen and one administrative officer to each receive a new rifle.

The rifles, according to Hill, are not for everyday use but are useful in many tactical situations.

Brown County Sheriff Bobby Grubbs stated that he is very pleased with the grant and the purchase of the rifles.

“These guns are good equipment for our officers,” stated Grubbs.  “We’re always looking for better equipment and I’m really satisfied with them.”

Grubbs stated that he really appreciated BCSO Corporal Joe Thomas for his work in securing the grant and appreciates that the NRA selected BCSO to participate in the grant program.

“This is a good boost for us, it’s always hard to come up with the money for these kinds of things,” said Grubbs.  “These rifles are great in tactical situations, gives a little better range than a shotgun and they have very good optics.  We hope the officer doesn’t ever need to use it, but we’re glad they have it.”

The rifles were put into use immediately; however, training will be scheduled in the near future to teach the deputies how to use, maintain and clean the new rifles.

Cpl. Thomas stated that he was involved in choosing the type of weapons to be purchased and that he and administrative officers of BCSO chose the Smith and Wesson AR 15s based on the quality of the firearm and the number they could purchase with the grant funds.  They also wanted to make sure that all deputies had the same model weapon, to insure that they all knew how to operate each other’s guns in case of emergency situations, according to Thomas.

“Better equipment leads to better training and helps us to better protect the citizens,” stated Thomas.

Pictured above are BSCO patrol officers with the new AR 15s after they were issued on Wednesday afternoon.

Deputy Kelly Marsh tries out the light on the AR15.

Deputies listen as Cpl. Thomas (left) shows the features of the new firearms and explains the importance of standard issue weaponry.