If the most combat you can realistically expect is playing Call of Duty, yes. If you’re that guy, no.
What makes it so?
Leo Bloom,
You certainly don’t have to justify asking a question but I am wondering why you asked about this particular item. Was it idle curiosity that struck you or was there something else?
That leads me to wonder… to what extent are police and/or soldiers allowed to customize their weapon? E.g. can Cpl. Jones trick out his service M4 rifle with a fancy aftermarket laser sight, scope, and memory-foam flexi-grip assuming that he pays for them himself and doesn’t seriously impact his ability to function? I would WAG that higher ranks probably have greater flexibility here and that General Bigwig can more or less pack whatever custom heat he wants and Private Nobody is strictly limited to what is listed on Page 34 of Handbook Q-45.
More accurately, seems to be loaded for** Bear_Nenno**! 
I
What is the little box at the very top of the optics in Photo 1 & the different one (I think) in Photo 2?
II
In fact, what all is going on with the optics in Photo 2–a scope is affixed in front of another scope?
III
Photo 3 and Photo 4: Isn’t it odd that members of the same unit (2 they may be drawn from different sub-units) carry differing weapons, even though the officers are carrying out the same tactical role?
You certainly have impressed me over the years as a poster, so I will restrain myself: what on earth prompted you to ask that?
I’d like to amend the “restrain myself” part. I am feeling a little snappish this morning.
And above, in part III, the highlighted/cite “2” should be deleted; it snuck in somehow.
ETA: plus I just now got the username Micky Mouse.
Possibly night vision/IR unit?
Sometimes it is a matter of diferring specialties in case some specific need arises. In Photo 3 I cannot see too clearly if the man in the back has a SMG or a shortened assault rifle, but the man in the foreground with the full-length weapon may be more able to engage at longer distances and the one in the background better able to enter and engage in tight quarters if need be.
Actually, it may be a 1920s Style Death Ray…
I. It’s probably a laser. It could be used as a designator (the red dot thing), a range finder, or both. It could also be an IR designator, which leads to…
II. It’s not a scope in front of another scope as much as a long image intensifying type night vision scope. With the correct filter and such, it could “see” a near IR laser dot that would be invisible to the naked eye.
Photo 3 is easy. You’ve got a sniper/over-watch man with the long rifle and an entry team member with the short SMG providing security for the sniper.
You might have a point with Photo 4. They all seem clad and armed for entry team. It may just be that they had both kinds in their armory and one preferred the M-4 to the H&K or vice versa. Or one got to the gun rack late and had to take what was left.
G36 magazines have built-in clips to join them up, so no tape is needed. Although that doesn’t have any bearing on whether or not giant mag bundles are a good idea - it seems to be one of those things that some people swear by and others swear at.
Most awesomely, they use huge honkin’ 357 revolvers.
http://www.gign.org/groupe-intervention/?p=805
But yeah, that’s a HK G36 with a tac light up front, some sort of optic (red dot sight?) and some sort of dual-magazine rig (prob. the aforementioned joining clips).
IR laser. Invisible to the naked eye, but like a neon show when seen through the right optics. Helps both aiming at a target and letting the rest of the team know precisely where you’re aiming at. They use the same gear on the show Generation Kill.
Photo 1 is a PEQ-15A Dual Beam Aiming Laser. This has an IR and visible red aiming laser.
Photo 2 is a PEQ-2 Target Pointer/Illuminator/Aiming Light. This is an older generation aiming laser. It also has an IR flood light.
This picture shows an ELCAN SpecterDR with ATN PS-22 night vision scope mounted in front of it. This allows him to see and shoot at night.
It’s not that odd. And many of the officers probably have different roles within the team.
Note in Photo 4 one guy isn’t wearing knee-pads. He’s also the guy carting the M4. Different roles in the entry team.
Also when you are not talking about the military some police specialty units have the option to buy their own weapon. For instance the local ESU team that I know are all issued viet nam era M16s converted to semi-auto only. As you can imagine they are pretty beat up after a couple of decades of military use. Quite a few of the members have paid for their own M4 variant to use with the team. So it is possible for two members with the same role to have different weapons of the same type.
Extraordinary direct view of the rescue assault. Unedited (as in CNN and other outlets.)
That looks rather confused, and not at all howI’d imagine that the GIGN, SAS, FBI HRT, et al… would handle things.
Was it just a bunch of local yokel cops or something?
