People often forget that SHOT Show is a place for police and military forces to see, handle, and find the latest and greatest gear on the market. The law enforcement world is one that continually evolves, and that evolution requires new and more capable gear. Today, we are going to dive into the best Law Enforcement Gear of SHOT 2025.
Safariland Ballast
The Safariland Ballast is the most advanced law enforcement duty holster on the market. It brings the Safariland Level 3 retention with the ALS and SLS devices to provide users with the most security and accessibility possible. The Ballast integrates the best parts of Safariland’s design while making the holster light, smaller, and stronger.
The idea behind the Ballast is to maximize duty belt efficiency by reducing bulk while still allowing users to carry full-sized, fully equipped duty guns. The Ballast uses a proprietary crust-resistant shield to make the Ballast a tough-as-nails choice. An ingress guard allows for an easy draw and comfortable grip but also prevents dirt, debris, and fingers from entering near the trigger.
The Ballast also provides a level of modularity. The ability to swap endcaps allows you to swap from a Glock 19 with a small light to a Glock 17 with a large light and the varied combinations between different guns and lights. The Ballast can also work with all Safariland 3-Hole attachments, so an existing ecosystem of belt accessories exists on day one.
Cloud Defensive EPL
Weapon-mounted lights have changed a lot in just a few years. These days, the discussion focuses more on candela than lumens and how a healthy mix provides a bright and capable weapon light.
Cloud Defensive is leading the way with lights like the EPL, their latest pistol light. The EPL channels all the candela to propel all the lumens.
The EPL throws a lot of light, but Cloud Defensive wasn’t ready to reveal just how much yet. Testing is still ongoing, but they intend for the light to provide full power throughout the battery’s lifespan. They’ve designed the light to find the right balance of light, battery life, size, and holster compatibility.
Preliminary testing showed that the EPL worked well with Safariland’s large light holsters. The EPL promises to be an awesome tool for law enforcement and provide more light and candela than any other handgun weapon light on the market.
Infitac Fast Mini
The Infitac Fast Mini provides a micro-sized thermal optic. It’s small enough to work on a handgun, but for law enforcement purposes, I think the Infitac Fast Mini would work best as an offset optic on a rifle. With the rise of LPVOs amongst Law Enforcement an optic like this could double their capability.
The Fast Mini will work in both day and night conditions and help spot potential threats in less-than-stellar situations. The ability to detect a person by their body heat will help prevent officer ambushes and increase situational awareness as a whole.
The Fast Mini provides a 1X red dot-style optic that can also just be used as a close-quarter sight. Unlike traditional night vision, the Fast Mini works on the brightest of days, so it can be fielded anytime.
Glock X Aimpoint COA
The majority of law enforcement firearms are Glocks. It makes sense. They are durable, reliable, accurate, easy to maintain, and just great-duty pistols. The law enforcement world is slowly moving to the world of red dot sights. Handgun red dots make you shoot faster, further, and straighter.
Glock has teamed up with one of the best red dot companies to provide a duty-ready solution in the form of the COA. Aimpoint designed the COA, and Glock provided the platform for you to mount it. The COA uses the new A-Cut, which is unique in its approach. It attaches under a shelf at the front of the optic, and then a set of rear sights secures the rear end of the COA to the slide.
This removes a potential weak point of handgun rear optics in the form of the screws that typically pin the optic to the slide. The force exerted on these screws by a moving slide can cause them to shear, and that’s eliminated with the COA system.
Unit Solutions Pistol
Force-on-force training can be an extremely valuable training evolution for law enforcement. It allows you to test your skills and gear under pressure. It can be complicated due to the safety requirements, the logistics, and PPE required. Unit Solutions aims to simplify this process with its new training pistol.
Unit Solutions has long made forces-on-force rifles that are incredibly capable. They extended that capability to a Glockish-style marking pistol. It’s a complete training solution with zero real firearms parts. This increases safety and simplifies logistics. According to the staff at Unit Solution’s booth, all you need is eye protection.
The Unit Solutions pistol provides you with a C02-operated training tool that can be used with marking and nonmarking rounds, as well as a dry fire tool that effectively replicates recoil and slide movement.
Streamlight ProTac HP-X Long Gun Light
Rifle lights are a must-have for the modern law enforcement officer. Streamlight is stepping into the world of high-powered, high-lumen weapon lights with the ProTac HP-X. This light packs a mighty 105,000 candela. It will blast through fog, other lights, and darkness like nothing but an afterthought.
That 105,000 lumens throws 800 lumens a very long way with a beam distance of 648 meters. Surprisingly, the light can run for two hours with SL-B26 batteries. It’s also a fairly small light for its power. It’s only 5.63 inches long and seven ounces with the SL-B26 batteries.
Mesa Tactical Truckee Forend
Shotguns are the traditional choice of Law Enforcement when it comes to long guns. The pump action shotgun offers you a very versatile tool. One of the most popular Law Enforcement shotguns is the Remington 870. This year, Mesa Tactical released the Mesa Tactical Truckee forend for the 870 series.
This all-metal pump is durable and offers M-LOK slots for accessories. It’s just a forend, but it fills the hand and gives you a great grip over the gun. Its ability to accept accessories opens it up for lights, which are a must-have for an LEO long gun.
Law Enforcement in 2025
New and exciting tools are coming to the law enforcement market in 2025. When it comes down to law enforcement gear, officers need the best gear possible. Gear failure could have disastrous consequences, but the good news is that there are tons of great companies making great gear.
