Tarrant County commissioners approved a purchase of pistols for the Tarrant County Sheriff鈥檚 Office, giving deputies the choice to use county-issued firearms instead of their personal ones.
The move makes the office more competitive when trying to hire new deputies as providing firearms becomes the industry standard, according to a . It also standardizes the guns used by officers, making training and repair easier.
鈥淧eace officers with TCSO, as is common practice with many agencies across the nation, provide their own handguns,鈥� TCSO told 四虎影院 in an email. 鈥淭hese weapons must meet high-quality standards, and the deputies are required to show proficiency in the use of the weapon, as required by Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.鈥�
Commissioner Alisa Simmons said at the June 3 meeting she fully supported the purchase and was surprised deputies were using their personal guns.
鈥淭hey were using their personal sidearms 鈥� is that not crazy?鈥� she said.
But the practice of law enforcement using personal firearms on the job is not unheard of in law enforcement. City of Denton police officers were using personal firearms up until January when the city started purchasing pistols for officers, according to the .
The Denton Police Department gave similar reasons to Tarrant County for providing pistols. A requirement to have a gun was a barrier to recruiting officers and providing firearms was industry standard now.
Tarrant County law enforcement will still have the option to use personal firearms if they want. Current sheriff's office policy requires those guns to be approved and registered by the office.
鈥淭here are no challenges for deputies in using personal firearms as long as expected standards are met, the weapons are maintained, and training requirements are completed," TCSO said.
Tarrant County is purchasing 150 pistols with optics for $109,800 from Houston-based Primary Arms. The company was sued in 2022 by the state of New York who allege Primary Arms intentionally sold gun parts that could easily be converted into a functional gun with just a few alterations to the part.
New York alleges because they were sold as gun parts, and therefore did not require a serial number, they created 鈥済host guns鈥� 鈥� which is a category of guns that are nearly impossible for law enforcement to track, according to the .
That and no decision has been made yet.
Dylan Duke is 四虎影院's summer 2025 SPJ news intern. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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