to think all police were armed?

[strawberrygate]

I'm really not seeing why this would now be a bad thing. There were police right there at the London attack, and if they'd been armed then some lives could have been saved.
If someone drives a truck through a crowd in somewhere random like Sheffield, there will be police there, but currently not armed. How would they stop them? they would have no option but stand and wait until armed response arrived, which in most areas would be a hell of a lot longer than the 5 mins. or so it took in central London.
We're sitting ducks.

Current system is fine
try telling that to the people at the London Bridge attack

I live in a country where the police are armed, as a matter of course, and it is a frightening sight, machine guns are carried by security guards at cash points here, with good reason as a huge amount of criminals here have guns galore, it is that bad and I hate to see it, it makes me nervous,
but understand that here, they have to protect themselves however in the UK, as pp have said the mentality is different, armed police walking the streets would be a target, for their guns, it happens a lot here, policemen and women murdered for their guns. Do you really want to end up like the tigger happy USA?

Op when a bullet is fired and misses its target where do you think it goes? Do you think it just drops to the ground? Have you any idea how far a bullet can travel?

There's a reason guns aren't just used willy nilly. I think you've been watching too many movies.

CoolCarrie The OP may call you a liar now. Because they've already said this: "Peope are not going to attack a police person with a knife so that they can steal their gun. What a silly thing to say." Despite several of us saying so, and others, such as you confirming this. Sigh.

Ds is with the Met, the armed response unit is a highly trained unit and only the best marksmen/women are included, as a previous poster said not everyone is cut out to carry a gun, fortunately our police force are trained to take on many roles and even if not armed have to step into any emergency because it is their job.

maiden what do you think happens when men are running about stabbing people with knives and only the baddies are armed?

shatners and how often has that happened?

'Baddies' = too many movies.

strawberry Well, CoolCarrie said "it happens a lot here" in the country she lives in where the police are armed. She didn't say "it's happened very rarely". As she has experience of this situation and you don't, I'm more likely to back her saying "it happens a lot" than you saying "don't be silly, that wouldn't happen" But carry on regardless, eh?

you can't use this fucking awful attack to justify arming all police ffs just have a look at the Wild West mentality of the USA, or South Africa!
Those countries, and many others are just like the Wild West with a thin veneer of civilisation covering the cracks

^^This would create an arms race between criminals and police. Plus police have said they no not want regular beat police to be armed. Our police are taught how to de-escalate situations rather than rocking up and shooting a la USA.

Totally agree.

try telling that to the people at the London Bridge attack

My family has been affected. I don't want it.

HTH.

When my xh was a policeman it was certainly the view that the mainland British Police prided themselves on not needing to be routinely armed.
They did want a bit more than the old truncheons mind you

You would have a mass resignation from the police.

Two of the police involved in stopping the attack on London Bridge were unarmed. Armed police don't always get it right.

If our police were to be armed I would hope it would be in the Norwegian way.

The difference between us and the USA is that people ( in general) cannot legally buy firearms her so we wouldn't get that situation where everyone has guns.

I used to live in an area of London with gun crime. Guns were around. A 16 year old got shot in a local club - for NOTHING simply the wrong place at the wrong time.

A little girl got shot in her own home when gunmen aimed at her dad. (Both these kids were black though so you may not have heard of them, it didn't become a national scandal. The media don't report the deaths of black kids in the same way as white kids).

Teenagers knew who had them. I'm pretty sure I could have easily got one if I'd had the money and inclination - and I was in no way involved in that world.

This was a place that - on the surface was a nice street in London - Victorian houses (very trendy now).

If you arm the police there will be MORE guns in our society as the criminals tool up. More innocent people will get in the way of gunfire. More police will be shot in the line of duty.

You may not be able to get guns legally, but this is an international world with wars going on everywhere, and companies from countries like ours are making a killing (literally) arming the world to the teeth. Criminals will be able to get guns if they want to, and arming the police gives them more of a reason to do so.

No, OP, there is no need for policemen to all be armed. You're just being toady

*goady

toady 😍😂

Although its possible for all police to carry guns and not routinely shoot innocent civilians like in the US (for instance all police are armed in my country but they very very rarely shoot) it doesn't mean its a good idea. Training time would have to increase a lot to make it safe in any way and I think it would have a negative impact on community policing - people don't feel so trusting of the police when they're carrying guns.

A better idea would be to increase the availability of armed response units.

Agree with the majority - I don't want routinely armed police. Armed, highly trained response units are the way to (although I agree with a pp that it would be nice to have a few of them).

As few guns on our streets as possible is what I want. Can you imagine Saturday's attack if the murderers had guns?

Charmageddon

definitely shot in head, but expected to make full recovery (metro.co.uk/2017/06/05/victim-shot-in-head-in-police-crossfire-is-expected-to-make-full-recovery-6685265/ www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/london-bridge-attack-man-shot-in-head-in-police-crossfire-to-make-full-recovery-as-hospital-reveals-a3556776.html www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4569950/London-terror-One-man-shot-head-police-open-fire.html www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2017/jun/03/london-bridge-closed-after-serious-police-incident-live)

the 8 armed police involved in the shooting deployed 50 bullets between them, there was likely to be someone caught

I don't want the Police to be armed. If you're going to do that, why not go the full hog and declare martial law.

Shame on you OP, your plan would give the terrorists exactly what they want - the breakdown of our society.

We don't have a gun in our house, but many people do here in South Africa to protect themselves from the murderers, rapists and unspeakably vile attacks which happen here every day, every fucking day, life is cheap here, please don't let that happen in Britain
You are fortunate in the U.K. because you don't live with a siege mentality, please don't let these horrific acts allow those feelings to start.
The most vulnerable people in SA are women, children and police officers, the police, in particular, BECAUSE they are armed and the vile bastards criminals want their guns! I know because I live here, I know what I am commenting on.

If you want to live where police are armed, move to the USA and see how well that's working out for them.