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The number of choices open to the Agents of the FBI were very, very small. They had little to choose from in guns, and merely carrying a non-authorized gun could result in being fired on the spot.
Plus, at the time, the FBI line was that their training was THE VERY BEST, and FBI agents did not attend outside training without authorization (which was rarely granted). I never met one at any outside firearms or officer survival training, except when they were "instructors". See, to attend outside training would suggest that The Bureau did not know it all.
There were still many Hoover era supervisors in the Bureau, whose primary rule was "Don't Embarass the Bureau". Criticizing a Supervisor was a quick career ender. Even suggesting another course of action was considered critical.
For example, FBI agents were forbidden to compete in Police firearms competitions, because they might not win. No PPC, and certainly no IPSC or Police Combat (as we used to call it), where a lowly civilian might defeat a "Mighty Special Agent of the F B I."
I violated our firearms rules - err, well, let's just say I streached them to their limits - but the Bureau was far more 'rulebound' than my agency. My Supervisors understood that the rules could not cover ever situation.
Only those who have worked in a Government Bureaucracy have a clue about how anal it can be, and the FBI was worse than any other. (For example, only Hoover was allowed to use blue ink. Everyone else had to use black ink, down to the lowlyest clerk.)
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Sleuth
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