Side arm
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A side arm is a firearm, usually a pistol, which is worn on the body in a holster to permit immediate access and use. A side arm is typically required equipment for law enforcement personnel and military personnel. Usually, uniformed personnel of these services wear their weapons openly, while plainclothes personnel have their side arms concealed under their clothes.
Government security service bodyguards for VIPs and heads of state who need a weapon that can be concealed under clothing may have a fully automatic machine pistol as a side arm. In a military setting, machine pistols are issued as personal defense sidearms to paratroopers, artillery crews, helicopter crews or tank crews.
[edit] Other eras
The term can also refer to swords and other mêlée weapons (eg. the rapier, the katana and wakizashi, the arming sword and the side-sword are all considered sidearms for their respective eras of use); the modern use of it usually pertains to pistols and similar firearms.
[edit] References
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