Rural police could routinely carry guns

I don't know were this idea comes from that you either have unarmed police like here or fully armed trigger happy police like America.
Police are armed throughout Europe yet we neve hear of police shootings like in the states stat countries like France , Spain, Germany Belgium.
Our police should be armed like them.
The reason so many police shootings happen in America is because unlike here, the whole world and his wife are packing heat and that makes simple things like a late night traffic stop fraught with danger, for both parties.
It wouldn't be the case here.

When the police have guns, corrupt officials become a whole lot dangerous. There's a reason why the UK is different to the US.

The police already have guns, or they at least have access to officers with guns, armed police can be on the scene within minutes in most major cities now. Let's not forget we also have an entire military who are armed to the teeth with guns. The State already has a total monopoly on the use of force, so I hardly think it's going to make much difference if rural police get access to firearms too. To clarify, I don't think rural police need to be armed at all times, nor do I particularly want them to be, but I think it would be a good idea for at least some officers, particularly in remote areas, to be trained in firearms use, and have access to them if the dire need arises, either kept in the station, or locked away in a safe in their patrol cars.

I don't understand why comparisons around this kind of subject are only ever made with the US? Why not with countries like Canada or Australia (countries which are far closer to Britain than the US in terms of legal system and culture, and both of which have routinely armed police, without much of an issue) As I pointed out earlier in this thread, we are one of the few countries on Earth without routinely armed police.

What frontline officers?

We have managed without guns so far. Let's keep it how it is.

It was bound to happen, pass disarmament laws on the condition it applies to police as well then slowly rearm the police leaving the citizens disarmed, police state 101.

I agree there is in my opinion now certainly more reasons why police should be armed.

Firearms are for specialist police units. If policemen had guns on the street, what's stopping gangs from mugging them for their guns?

Because of terrorism in the UK which has existed since the 1970s.

You could say that about any countries where police officers carry firearms.

To name but one. Crime with dangerous weapons eg knifes 🔪, guns up, the list is continuous.

There are absolute nutters as it is in the Police force giving them guns would only let them abuse this power. Yes we need to protect our citizens but the problem lies with the Government welcoming Jihadis who have murdered and maimed in Syria back into the country with open arms and given them free housing etc. There's about 30,000 in the UK which are classed as "worrying" by MI5. These people shouldn't even be in the country to begin with.

That’s a large number of Jihadis who have never gone to Syria. Just saying if an attack is going on, I’d rather have armed policemen much closer dealing with it.

Firearms are for specialist police units. If policemen had guns on the street, what's stopping gangs from mugging them for their guns?

Instead of putting more guns on our streets why not introduce a nationwide CCTV system which continuously monitors people's activities outside/in public. Bound to be a better deterrent than guns.

London has some of the most extensive CCTV, facial recognition and mass-surveillance systems on Earth, Stalin would have been jealous. It didn't prevent any of the terrorist attacks of recent years, and overall violent crime in the city has been steadily increasing.

Firearms are for specialist police units. If policemen had guns on the street, what's stopping gangs from mugging them for their guns?