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Should police carry guns in the UK?

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They already do

Less than lethal weapons and projectiles are fine. Guns and speed monitoring equipment then absolutely not!

Reply 22

DiddyDec01

You can't even trust the police with a taser let alone an actual weapon. They tasered that blind guy not so long ago because they thought he had a sword.

If anything we should give the police glasses so they see properly.

Reply 23

JG1233

No, we have armed police which can be used when necessary.

Reply 24

Ãmmm

How many accidental deaths from an officer will it take before we say guns are too dangerous?

Reply 25

Castro Saint

No. They can't even use their power to stop and search properly... giving them guns? Pahahaha.

Reply 26

DiddyDec01

Original post by Ümmm

How many accidental deaths from an officer will it take before we say guns are too dangerous?

Too dangerous for what?

Reply 27

Ãmmm

Original post by DiddyDec

Too dangerous for what?

To carry around.

Reply 28

Lúcio

Original post by Numberwang

It's happening in Scotland right now and expected to spread across the UK.

Will it make Britain a safer place to live or more violent?

a very interesting question.
i must stress that i don't know the intricacies of the gun laws in the UK, anything posted below is merely my own naive opinion.

regular police officers without guns hasn't seemed to have hindered the UK in any significant way - as far as i know it hasn't had an effect on the crime rate compared to america for example.
however i suppose it all comes down to how strict the laws are.

since it isn't too hard to get a gun in the US, you can expect police to also be carrying them.

personally i wouldn't have a problem with police carrying guns, however i also don't think it would improve to country in any significant way.
maybe only certain qualified types of officer should have a gun, or police should only have guns in certain areas on certain patrols.

is a lethal weapon even needed anyway?
if police just had to have a gun, why couldn't it shoot non-lethal projectiles that stun instead of killing for example?

(edited 9 years ago)

Nope

**** no.

no their would be too much police officers with itchy fingers :P

Reply 32

Tillybop

I think tasers are better than guns. What if the police got the wrong person and they'd shot them and left an innocent person badly injured? At least with a taser the person recovers after a few minutes and they don't have any lasting injuries from it.

Reply 33

Code Carnivore

I wouldn't trust a British Police officer to know how to use a gun or use it in an appropriate manner

Reply 34

blueskyblue

Original post by Sammy Lanka

I'm sorry but I highly doubt police are going to start shooting people just because they have guns. They will be used as a deterrent just like tasers are at the moment as you mentioned. Th difference is that as a criminal I am more likely to try my chances with 50,000 volts than a bullet, (hypothetically of course) so guns are a better deterrent

I personally feel safer when police have guns as they are going to be far more able to protect you if someone does do something stupid. I am however completely against civillians having guns

Posted from TSR Mobile

Remember what happened when that guy was shot when a policeman assumed he was armed ? Granted the riots didn't happen solely due to his death but it was a catalyst in the events which led up to it . Last thing we need is a further barrier between police and everyone else , they've shown themselves to be institutionally racist , using unnecessary force etc in the past so the last thing we need is an additional reason to dislike them.

Reply 35

Coffinman

Tasers were bad enough with numerous examples of how they can be abused regardless of any claims that they would just be for serious crimes which has been proven to be completely false.
It's also a concern that the police can arm themselves with whatever they feel like without any democratic oversight and much like any stupid laws expect it to be tested on Scotland then filter down England afterwards.

Reply 36

Darkphilosopher

If the police start using guns by default then I find it likely that harder criminals will also arm themselves more heavily. Sounds like a bad idea to me.

Reply 37

cole-slaw

police get guns -> criminals gets guns -> police get bigger guns -> criminals get bigger guns, etc etc etc.

Why escalate things unnecessarily? its the wrong direction to take.

Reply 38

username1331498

Original post by cole-slaw

police get guns -> criminals gets guns -> police get bigger guns -> criminals get bigger guns, etc etc etc.

Why escalate things unnecessarily? its the wrong direction to take.