Can you tell which Secret Service agents are carrying submachine guns?

[derby378]

Normally, I'd favor the agents wearing longer coats. Today, however, all of them seem to be wearing longer coats.

Yeah, I know, sucks as a drinking game, but I'm just curious.

[CreekDog]

1. I don't want to break up the fun but

:rofl:

[davidpdx]

14. Your little buddy looks a little desperate there

Is he lonely?

[Posteritatis]

2. The coats are designed, and the weapons chosen, for concealability

Even the ones in standard-looking suits can pull out a pretty astonishing arsenal when they're startled. If any particular one was holding anything less than a full-sized rifle at any point in time, I'd be completely unsurprised.

[derby378]

5. Remember the one agent that brandished a Mini-Uzi when Reagan and Brady were shot?

Nice little 9mm subgun, but it's got some kick. The full-sized model gives you something more substantial to hold on to, but it's also fairly heavy for a gun that size.

Nowadays, I think Secret Service agents are using MP5 and MP7 models from Heckler & Koch. Lighter than Uzis but just as sturdy, and they often come with a three-burst option along with semi-auto and full-auto.

[Posteritatis]

8. I still can't tell where that one came from

And I'm pretty sure the guy was in-near the frame most of the time. Gah.

[mucifer]

3. He just got into his souped up caddy!

The one that has a few units of his blood in it.

[Hippo_Tron]

4. I think nearly all of them do

That's one thing the movies never seem to get right. They always show SS agents only armed with pistols. I don't think that's the case in real life.

[derby378]

6. I think many agents still use pistols, especially indoors

Pistols still have an advantage over SMGs when it comes to indoor combat. New pistol techniques have been developed over the past 20 years to teach agents how to successfully deploy a pistol in tight corners, elevators, when being grappled by bad guys, etc.

[Hippo_Tron]

9. I think it's probably a mixture of both

They train for basically every scenario so I'm sure they have different weapons on hand for different scenarios.

[Posteritatis]

7. There's different flavors of agents that way

A lot do only carry pistols, at least going by what's been seen whenever a president was attacked or threatened in the last few decades. Most of Reagan's detail when he was shot had pistols, but only one or maybe two had submachine guns. It was similar when the attempt was made on Truman. The ratio was higher under Clinton, probably because of what happened to Reagan and due to the would-be threats probably being nastier. I'm pretty sure these days they're pretty heavily armed.

And of course the agents you see aren't going to be anywhere near all of them. The counter-assault teams just aren't seen unless an attack happens (or a car backfires, as people found out a couple times during Clinton's term). The visible guys are mostly "don't try it, buddy," but there'll always be a bunch of others saying "we told you not to try it!"

[Captain Hilts]

13. That's a good explanation of the different duties of the Secret Service. nt

[RollWithIt]

10. Shouldn't be discussed.... security... nt

[derby378]

11. Oh, pooh

We're not discussing the floor plans of Area 51, here. It's just a matter of legitimate speculation.

We all want Obama, Biden, and their families to be safe. And as has been pointed out earlier, the real muscle is just out of sight, waiting to be deployed in case the unthinkable happens.

[Trajan]

12. I've seen SS agents ....

and those with submachine guns wore them openly ....

There was no mistaking who had the firepower ....