Poll: Should UK police be given guns as standard issue?

[ZeroChan]

hope this helped some more. again sorry for snapping earlier.

It did.
And you are forgiven. ^_^

 

[Mark Flanagan]

No

British police aren't respected because of a lack of firearms but because of the justice systems in the UK as a whole.
Get rid of the Human Rights Act and the ability for convicted criminals to sue the government or people who defend themselves/property.

 

[Retal19]

They weren't so bloody worried about Police Brutality during the Troubles here in Ireland were they? And for that reason alone I say yes. Especially since most Law Enforcement are trained to shoot for the legs and only shoot to kill when lives are endangered.

Edit: Also, I think here in Ireland our Police are given Firearms as standard, because around 80-90% of Police I have seen have had a Combat Shotgun or Assault Rifle, or at least a Glock on their belt.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

This logic is so nice until you realize that if the 1000's of people breaking and burning down houses with people inside them would all have guns as well.. it would be a shit storm. The capitol would LITERALLY BE A WARZONE. Firefights and shoot outs. it would be fucking Baghdad in there. Terrible idea to arm EVERYONE. Imagine these crazed animals with guns? I would predict HUNDREDS of deaths. THOUSANDS even if random firing just started happening all along the street.

Also FYI far more rioters than police. The rioters have NO way to harm police properly (throwing stuff i guess) as long as they retain formation and hold ground as a unit, even if heavily outnumbered. Guns takes this advantage away. The police would be annihilated. I have a hunting bow, a katana , and a kukri. I will fuck anyone who attempts to loot my house. I dont need a gun. Im pretty damn far from the rioting as it is. We can still defend ourselves. Giving guns to EVERYONE INCLUDING THE RIOTERS is a shit shit shit shit shit idea. I hate these people. The last thing i want is for the to legally be able to arm themselves.

You are under the assumption that allowing people to arm themselves in the name of self defense automatically means everyone in the country will run out to do so. I can tell you that is not the case in the least. Even though it's perfectly legal in the state I live in to carry a concealed and loaded firearm with you damn near anywhere the vast VAST majority of people don't. Out of the entire massive group that encircles my co-workers family and friends I know a grand total of one other person who owns a pistol, and he doesn't carry it he keeps it locked up in his home.

Furthermore, from what I've seen a lot of the rioters are younger folks or poor folks these aren't the types of people who would be likely to be able to qualify for or be able to afford a gun even if they were given the option.

Despite their amazing lack of good judgement so far I honestly doubt that many of the rioters would think for a second that getting into a firefight with the British police is anything that resembles a good idea. Every time we've had riots in the states it rarely, if ever, breaks out into firefights. Rioters aren't out there looking to go down in a hail of gunfire they are out there to cause some trouble and maybe score some free shit. The second they would be dumb enough to introduce a firearm into the equation they are essentially agreeing to make their life forfeit.

In the end it absolutely baffles me to see people on here so terribly sheepish about law abiding citizens being allowed to defend their lives and their belongings. Criminals are going to get guns if they need them I promise you that. By denying guns to the masses you are only denying them to the law abiding citizens who would be very unlikely to ever do anything with them to cause trouble. As I said before, I've carried a pistol nearly every day for over a decade now and I've yet to have to pull it self defense thankfully. The bottom line is, to borrow a quote from the movie Shane, "A gun is a tool, no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it."

I see what you mean. I dunno. Its just i have a good amount of experience of bad areas, (my girlfriend lives in a REALLY REALLY shit area as in the site of many murders and muggings) im scared shit less by these scum as it is in terms of the horrific animal behavior they are willing to exhibit. I just don't like the idea of granting them more power. The police? I guess they could have guns. But then there is fairness of arming the people too to allow policing by consent. I dunno, just don't like the idea of people this brutal and stupid possessing fire arms legally. Id get one right away if they were legal. Thing is right now im probably better armed than most thugs (most, there was a shooting in the aforementioned area) if guns were available that's far less likely.

I think police should be given the following privileges and kit:

Tear gas grenade: 1 - only to be deployed against LARGE crowds, not in built up areas over small disputes

Rubber bullet gun - can inflict major pain without breaking skin. Aim for the legs and stomach

Tazor

Baton.

Helmet and stab proof vest.

I think this cop is well equipped enough to deal with basically ALL issues where an armed criminal is involved, and criminals (while you say they have guns if they want) don't seem to want guns by what Ive seen with a total of 6 police deaths by firearms over the last decade. Criminals must not want guns... i think criminals are just too small time to be fucked on getting guns. Why buy a gun when you could get a shit tonne of weed and peddle it in cemetery junction to make a killing? basic sense. 90% of your thugs don't need guns or want them for what they do. Which is petty crime and opportunistic theft.

 

[revolutionaification]

Damnit, I navigated away from the page after typing out a hell of a long post. So here's my opinion in short:

FUCK NO.
I don't want to live in a country where I'd be scared of even walking outside. I'm supposed to feel protected by a police presence and at the moment quite frankly, I do. Now, if they started carrying guns I'd be terrified that anything I did could result me being shot over a misunderstanding. I get that that's a bit paranoid, and highly unlikely to ever happen, but over the whole of the country...Sooner rather than later an innocent would be killed and the country would descend into a political shitstorm.

If this ever happens, I damn well hope it's after Scotland's got its independance.