The United States has roughly 7,000 miles of land border, and since 1924 the men and women of the Border Patrol have had the difficult,

Guns of the United States Border Patrol
by Jim Krieger

03/09/2010

often lonely, and sometimes deadly duty of monitoring and patrolling those long and mostly sparsely-settled stretches. Officially, the United States Border Patrol is the mobile, uniformed law enforcement arm of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The Border Patrol’s 20,000-plus agents have a single mission: securing our borders. Within that mission however are a wide variety of duties and potential encounters, ranging from interdicting those who are seeking illegal entry to the U.S., to locating and arresting smugglers, to preventing terrorist infiltration. Increasingly, these encounters involve individuals and groups who are willing and able not just to shoot back, but to shoot first to avoid arrest and accomplish their objectives. Since 1990, the average annual number of Border Patrol agents killed in the line of duty has doubled. To address this growing threat, as with other law enforcement agencies, the Border Patrol has significantly expanded the variety of weapons available to its personnel.

Before the advent of drug cartels and smuggling rings with high-tech communications gear, night-vision equipment and full-auto weapons, the border patrolman’s primary armament was a revolver. Notable among the ranks of the Border Patrol was Bill Jordan, an Assistant Chief Patrol Inspector who became justly famed both with his fellow agents and the public at large as a record-setting expert with the revolver -- the weapon on which he relied day in and day out. Jordan also won lasting recognition for persuading Smith & Wesson to develop its widely-acclaimed Model 19: a mid-frame .357 revolver adopted in the tens of thousands by law enforcement officers nationwide.

Times change however, and with them the guns and methods of border-hopping criminals have changed as well. Nowadays, the equipment and training of the Border Patrol are among the most modern to be found, and their firearms selections have been driven both by the arms choices of their numerous adversaries, and the rugged conditions and desolate terrain in which they operate. The sidearm is still the basic armament of Border Patrol agents, but it’s no longer a revolver. Today’s border patrolman typically carries a Heckler & Koch P 2000 in .40 caliber. Carrying over twice the number of rounds as a revolver, this 13-round (12+1) polymer-frame double action only automatic has proven itself popular with the law enforcement agencies that have adopted it, and established a reputation for reliability in even the harshest operating environments.

As with many other organized criminal enterprises, the gangs and other violent criminals that attempt to penetrate our borders have become far more sophisticated in their weapons choices. The substantial profits from human and drug smuggling in particular, and the easy availability of top-of-the-line military small arms in lawless parts of the world have allowed these black-market operators to assemble formidable arsenals, and they have increasingly proven themselves ruthless with their use. Because of the wide variety of adversaries, circumstances and terrain faced by Border Patrol agents, their weapons choices have been tailored to meet a growing variety of tactical considerations, and an expanding threat environment. While every agent’s indispensable daily companion is still the sidearm, sometimes it’s not enough gun and a more powerful alternative is required.

As any street cop will tell you, the shotgun has long been a welcome force multiplier, and it’s psychological and physical effects have made it an essential part of every law enforcement armory. Bill Jordan called it “the great tranquilizerâ€