Hey AskHistorians, I'm a fiction writer who's working on a story meant for compilation in a collection focused on events from '65 to '70.
I was wondering if anyone familiar with police or military history would be able to tell me what types of firearms police or National Guardsman would have used in faceoffs with student/political activists, especially in the Midwest around '69? I know the Illinois Nat Guard was involved in the riots of '68, so including whatever military grade weapons they might have used is perfect too! I ask because I'm not sure when local police adopted semi automatic long rifles or would have used anything other than sidearms; as for the Guard, I'm not a weapons expert and can't make out the model of weapons from pictures of the time.
Thanks for any help!
Most common guns back then would have been the baton for the cops and guards who didnt want to kill anyone. Tear gas was a favorite. For armaments, most Nat Guard guys still had the M1 Garand, Surplus from Korea and WWII. Later on I believe they adopted the M14. At what point this change occurred, I do not know. For cops, I'm pretty sure the norm was .38's. Smaller handguns such as that. Maybe Colts if they were vets/lucky. Shotguns were also given, though highly doubt they were used in riots. Hope this helps!
The S&W Model 10 was a very popular handgun used by the Police at that time period. Cops likely would have also had some type of pump action riot shotgun, potentially Remington 870s or Winchester model 1200 shotguns. There were also some Savage pump action shotguns out there (model 69 or 77).
The US army had by 1964 been issued the M16 with the M14 being phased out. Its likely some National Guardsmen had the M16 but most probably used the M14 or M1 Garand (which was used by the national guardsmen during the Kent State Shooting).