Poll: Arming the UK Police

[Mcupobob]

Since 1960, there have been 200,000 cold cases and each year 6,000 other cases go cold in the US alone.

Reports also say theres a drug bust in the U.S about every 18 seconds.

Just want to throw that out there. The only reason police need a gun is take down a maniac wielding one, or to arrest street gangs. But hell if you think you'll feel safer knowing the those thugs on government pay rolls are packing heat then whatever. Though I don't know how good the police are in the U.K over here though cops are more interested in busting those damn teens with pot than solving murders or robberies.

 

[EvilPicnic]

I get the distinct feeling this thread has been massively affected by the numbers of Americans posting here so I will just say this and hope someone reads it.

We are and will remain a country with a massively different culture from you, firearms have not and hopefully never will be commonplace here arming rank and file police officers is simply an insane idea. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not anti-gun by any stretch of the imagination I realise that sometimes they are a necessary tool.

It does strike me though that any society that feels a need for everyone to be armed in order to feel safe is more than a little insecure. But like I said, different cultures, different ways of doing things.

I leave you with this quote from a friend of my family who served in an inner city police force for several years and was involved in a fair amount of violence in his time.

One time I was asked if I would like to undertake firearms training and join the better paid response squad, I looked the man asking me right in the eye and said. "No thank you sir, if people are shooting I would rather stand at the back."

Guns don't kill people, people kill people, the gun does make it a whole lot easier though.

Quoted for truth.

American posters, refer to the recent Extra Credits video on the 'Myth of the Gun' in US culture.

This fetishism of guns is something we simply don't have in the UK, (at least, not to the same extent).

It's a truly different environment; your everyday Bobby on the beat does not need to be packing heat.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Cum Catapultae Proscriptae Erunt Tum Soli Proscripti Catapultas Habebunt

"When catapults are outlawed, only outlaws will have catapults."

That's why.

Writing something in Latin doesn't make it any more correct.

 

[Kadoodle]

If the police have guns, so too should the citizens, to protect themselves from the police.

Yeah, because the police are power hungry maniacs that hate you and are out to get you. That makes a ton of sense.

 

[erztez]

Also, come to think of it, to paraphrase John Oliver:

"The last time we had guns we conquered most of the planet"

Yeah...let's keep the guns away from the brits, m'kay?

 

[erztez]

Cum Catapultae Proscriptae Erunt Tum Soli Proscripti Catapultas Habebunt

"When catapults are outlawed, only outlaws will have catapults."

That's why.

Writing something in Latin doesn't make it any more correct.

Ehm...no, it doesn't. The fact that it's TRUE is what makes it correct.

 

[Jedoro]

Cops without guns? In order to protect people, you have to be better armed than the majority of those who are a threat. One, it's easier to have courage from a distance and two, people have a tendency to back down when faced with superior firepower. That's why I love how cops around here not only have a pistol on their belt/thigh, but a shotgun in their patrol car. Mr. Machete there wouldn't be a problem for Tennessee police officers.

 

[Kadoodle]

If the police have guns, so too should the citizens, to protect themselves from the police.

Yeah, because the police are power hungry maniacs that hate you and are out to get you. That makes a ton of sense.

Remember those guys that wrote the constitution of the United States of America? Those guys a lot smarter than anyone in this forum, including you and I? Yeah, see, they just got done fighting against, among other things, the police and saw fit to include the right to bear arms into the founding rights of their country.

P.S: go tell those people being beaten by police in the gutter that they have nothing to fear. I mean, they obviously don't need to protect themselves from that. And those guys in Libya? Fighting for their democratic rights against a military that wants them dead? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they need to protect themselves too.

Ok. I see what you're getting at. I misjudged your original wording; it came across to me that you were under the impression that the police would immediately begin abuse their firearms.

 

[AngloDoom]

I'm more for the idea of police being given non-lethal weapons. A tazer, a stun-gun, anything of a similar disposition - non-lethal, stuns, and hits from a distance.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well I see the American standard of gunning down anyone looking at you funny is really nicely excepted.

Anyway police officers in my country are all trained and armed, but for them only to unholster a weapon can be a career ending decision unless they have several colleges confirming the necessity, and anyone pulling an american style gun-down will land in jail before the body get's cold.
So they aren't just armed and let loose like the wild west nutters, they are armed for necessity only and very closely monitored not to step out of line.

 

[EvilPicnic]

I don't think that the police should always be armed but I do think that the police should have the option.

The main problem with arming the police is that the British public have time and again proved themselves incapable of debating police action in a mature manner. The British public seem to have this quaint view that no one should ever get hurt in any circumstance, our police get enough crap for riot actions like cuffing that cripple (which, it turned out, wasn't all that crippled but that never really got reported) and the public just can't see the reason for the police to have guns.

By 'cuffing that cripple' are you referring to Ian Tomlinson, who was struck and thrown to the ground by an officer and died from internal bleeding? Which an inquest has recently judged to be an unlawful killing? For shame.

 

[mightybozz]

Reading this thread, I'm pleasantly surprised by the amount of UK officers who say that they don't want firearms. It makes me really proud of our police. And normally I'm very, very cynical about the whole thing

 

[HellenicWarrior]

A firearm is a necessary tool in stopping a violent offender. It's the only weapon gauranteed to stop someone when used properly.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Cum Catapultae Proscriptae Erunt Tum Soli Proscripti Catapultas Habebunt

"When catapults are outlawed, only outlaws will have catapults."

That's why.

Writing something in Latin doesn't make it any more correct.

Ehm...no, it doesn't. The fact that it's TRUE is what makes it correct.

Except it's evidently not true. Guns are by-and-large banned here among the civilian population, but the police still have them, so the phrase:

"Only outlaws will have catapults."

Is simply factually wrong. The outlaws and the police have them, and the police have more.

You may then say, "Well if the police can have them they're not outlawed!"

To which I may respond, "Well then why the hell do you think your comment has any relevancy?"

Although I'm glad you agree that simply rephrasing something in Latin is the height of intellectual condescension.

 

[Westerschwelle]

Obviously Cops should carry guns all the time! People will always be able to get weapons illegal so why should the police be armed worse than potential hostiles?

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

You guys seriously don't have long distance tazer guns in the UK? It took what, 20 minutes to even get riot shields in play? No tear gas? I saw no bean bag shotguns.

Those are all perfectly acceptable non-lethal weapons that ALL officers should have access to. This would have ended with 2 officers rather than over 30 if you had ANY of this devices. Devices most US CITIZENS can purchase without a license.

this by far

there are other weapons that are WAY more useful in that situation, tasers/beanbag shotguns/riot shields(on hand)



if that was america, WITHOUT THE USE OF A LIVE GUN, he woulda been down in maybe a minute, if that, hell a civilian probably would have had him down quicker than that.

the whole point of the police is to be able to protect the civilians, and if they aren't equipped for it then they are no better than a babysitter

 

[Arizona Kyle]

I sleep well knowing these men are on the streets protecting us from danger every day.

and i fear this