AR-15/M4 Suitable for Personal Defense? DHS Thinks So

Last Summer the Department of Homeland Security submitted a Request for Proposal to supply 7000 rifles to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The scope of this contract is to provide a total of up to 7,000 5.56x45mm North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) personal defense weapons (PDW) throughout the life of this contract to numerous Department of Homeland Security components. This Statement of Work delineates performance criteria and testing to be used for the evaluation of the firearm.

 Note that DHS is looking for "personal defense weapons".  What are considered personal defense weapons for employees of our Department of Homeland Security?

3.0 REQUIREMENTS AND TESTING STANDARDS


3.1 General. DHS and its components have a requirement for a 5.56x45mm NATO, select-fire firearm suitable for personal defense use in close quarters and/or when maximum concealment is required. Only one specific nomenclature firearm from each Contractor shall be submitted for solicitation testing and considered for contract award.

So a short barrel M4 or M-16 is suitable for personal defense if the operator gets his check signed by Uncle Sam, but the semi-auto standard length firearm is not suitable for the rest of us?

And what magazines are necessary for personal defense?

3.21.2 The magazine shall have a capacity to hold thirty (30) 5.56x45mm NATO rounds.

If you read through the RFP you will see that DHS has determined that pretty much every feature on Feinstein's AWB list is necessary for a good personal defense weapon.
 The hypocrisy, it hurts.

HSCEMS-12-R-00011 Section C

Further background can be found here.

H/T to Firehand