You'd be surprised at how little even State Police know about guns, their components, ballistics & even the governing laws. Not all, but many law enforcement people have never hunted nor picked up a firearm prior to police training. What they know is only what the academy has taught them. I think that a complete understanding of the dymamics of firearms should be taught.
Once my house was vandalized & two firearms stolen. The police came and together we looked throughout my property to see if anything else was destroyed and/or missing. When I took the officer to my shop his eyes got as big as saucers when he surveyed the loading equipment, containers of cast bullets & components in general. I guess he thought that he had just walked into an ammo dump. He was speechless. To me it was just normal for one to be in possession of all of what my shop contained. I grew up with all of that kind of stuff.
After talking to him about the shooting sports & my knowledge of reloading & ballistics in general, he said that I knew more about firearms than anyone on the city police force. I told him that my knowledge was limited compared to others I knew. (Such as people on this site & other shooting forums)
It was then that I realized how uneducated even law enforcement is when it comes to firearms knoweledge. This post is not meant to criticize any police officer but only to make poignant that there are few that are educated in our sport.
In closing I must say that it is due mainly to ignorance that our 2nd amendment rights have been put in jeopardy.