plawolf
Lieutenant General
Wolf I can give you most of this but...
In a vast portion of the third world. The weapons of choice for all three civilian, military and law enforcement are the same AK. It's when you move to the developed world that the SMG and pistol becomes more prevalent and where you start getting higher and tighter restrictions on gun ownership and regulation.
In a place where the citizenry lack any major firearms avalibility like the PRC there and then Pistols are often the heavy hitter and SMG's are the over achiever. Most of the Third world though have all three factions the two government arms and citizenry as well as possible threats packing the same weapons.
Um, I thought we were talking about the west and maybe also China? For most 3rd world countries, police simply don’t have the budget for SMGs and make do with military surplus. Even in China, only the SWAT from a few rich cities have the budget for SMGs, even home made ones. The bulk of the PAP still uses military rifles and most Chinese beat cops only get a sidearm at most.
It’s not really a choice if they cannot afford the alternative.
Although I don’t think ballistics or the nature of urban policing is any different in 1st or 3 red world countries. Police using an AK or M16/AR15 in urban areas will run a big over penetration risk. And in most 3rd world nations, body armour is rare even for the police.
Although I must admit I was careless in using term ‘rest of the world’ when I should have said the rest of the West.