the local police departments that I am familiar with or seen reported on seem to have already militarized or partially militarized themselves in the areas of weaponry, equipment, tactics and attitude.
I'm with Isso on this one. In fact, I often wonder if the militarization of America (our perpetual state of war, and the militarization of most police departments, the mushrooming of badge carrying agencies and people) haven't actually contributed to the problem.
I read an article not long ago talking about the fact that police in some cities send SWAT Teams to deliver warrants of any type. Why? Because once you have a SWAT Team you have to have something for it to do. Police now have APC's and all kinds of ordinance they rarely if ever use. Joe Arpaio, "Sheriff Joe" as he likes to be known, intended to purchase damn tank a few years back, until the county told him he was out of his mind.
In the horrible situation that happened last Saturday one of the men who tackled Loughner was openly carrying a 9 mm pistol. He reportedly has a CCW and is an experienced shooter. He said that he didn't draw his weapon because by the time he could take action it wasn't necessary. He was a smart fellow and apparently knew well when and when not to draw his pistol. I don't know that you'd want to have or need more firepower in the situation that happened, even if you had the time to respond. Why would it be necessary? I think most shooters would prefer to face that situation with a .40 or a .357, but a 9 mm would have been fine.
There were many people and it was chaotic. IMHO a .357 would have been maybe a more dangerous choice for that situation (as if a responder would have a choice). The idea is to stop the threat ASAP. In my opinion, others would disagree, I'd think a .45 while certainly more firepower, would be a bad choice. Cops could carry .45s, but you won't see many police departments doing it. There are reasons for that. You certainly wouldn't want nor would you need an AR-15 or a Mossberg 12 ga. in that situation.
One other thing, the background check obviously didn't work. That needs to be looked into. While I am not in favor of the right to carry concealed here without a permit in cases like this it would have made little difference. A bad guy intent on breaking the law and doing harm is going to conceal his weapon. A law saying that you cannot without a CCW is meaningless to a criminal.
