While the anti-gunners scream that AR-15s are “weapons of war” that have “no place on our streets,” we all know the truth. They’re effective weapons for certain roles that exist outside of the battlefield (as well as just a hell of a lot of fun to shoot). Frankly, law enforcement needs them.

Unfortunately, cash-strapped departments may have difficulty buying quality AR-15s for their officers due to financial constraints.

Luckily, the National Rifle Association is willing to do something about that.

The NRA believes in standing behind the thin blue line by supporting law enforcement officers through many programs. In September, Jones County Sheriff Department in Mississippi received a $3,400 grant from NRA in order to retire old rifles used by the SWAT Team and Narcotics division, and replace them with two fully suppressed AR-15s. The new firearms will allow the deputies to be better equipped for the different situations they encounter on patrol.

“Us having these rifles on every unit in the county is so important because precious seconds count whenever someone turns loose on one our people or a citizen with a high-powered assault rifle,” said Sheriff Alex Hodge in a Sept. 25 press conference.

The two suppressed Colt AR-15 rifles are intended to help deputies better identify the types of gunfire they may hear in situations as either “friendly” or “threat.”  Because they are suppressed, the deputies will also be able to worry less about hearing loss over time.

The older rifles, which are still quite serviceable, will be passed down to patrol officers so they’ll have greater firepower on the spot should they need it.

This isn’t the first time we’ve reported on the NRA making donations toward local police departments. If it’s not money to buy guns for the department, it’s money for weapons training.

Yet, while reading this story, all I could think about is how often do we hear about anti-gun groups doing anything for law enforcement? When did Giffords give a grant to a local police department? When was the last time you heard about Everytown doing anything like that? Anything at all?

You haven’t. They simply don’t do it.

Instead, these groups are more than willing to try and hold up a few officers as props, their “proof” that police support gun control, but they never do a blasted thing for law enforcement. Meanwhile, we all know their ultimate goal is to have those same officers go door-to-door to take away our guns. They dream of putting those men and women in harm’s way to enact their warped version of Utopia, but it’s this side that tries to look out for them.

Maybe it doesn’t make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things, but it bothers me that in all the vilification of the NRA taking place, stuff like this gets “missed” by the media. They ignore all the money the NRA donates to police, all to make each and every one of us safer, and instead act like they prefer dead children.

Well, I’m one person who is glad the NRA helps out.