Fine idea. Though, I gotta ask, how often do officers use a rifle?
Seattle just settled a sizable claim for hearing loss from a fire truck siren.
They are used quite often. Fired is a different story. Fortunately, most deployments of all our weapons end without them being fired.
But if it does happen, it's likely to be indoors and you can't garuntee innocents won't be in close proximity. Even bad guys who have surrendered don't deserve ear damage if we need to use them against someone else. And it would nice if we didn't suffer hearing loss ourselves.
Think clearing buildings and such. Your average everyday patrol officer will carry a carbine in his car somewhere. He ain't gonna have time to grab it all the time, but when he does, it would be good to mitigate hearing damage to anyone involved. Your SWAT types have all the time to plan. No reason for them not to have them either
