[lyndon]

According to a recent surveyalmost three out of ten police officers have been threatened with a knife while on duty and nearly 6 per cent, amounting to about 7,000 officers, have been threatened with a gun.

So with the seeming rise of reported violent crime, is it time for all police to be armed?

Would you feel safer knowing every single police officer was carrying a deadly weapon?

[Andy]

fuck no

[Mr Fred]

give em cricket bats.

[rightclick]

If your working in a world which has guns, shouldn't you be allowed to defend yourself in the same way? They say it will increas gun crime. I say it will make areests more efficent. The only reason police don't carry guns is the fact we live in a compo' culture fuelled by a human righst arguement.

Send them out like Rambo!

[Stickman]

Works great in America.

[datahound]

Originally Posted by Stickman

Works great in America.

I was just about to say the same thing.

[datahound]

Cricket bats isn't such a bad idea, a big stick and the authority to use it.

We need more of this mentality.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...13/nclip13.xml

[oli]

Originally Posted by Stickman

Works great in America.

And for Jean Charles de Menezes

[Dusteh]

If it means more dead table leg-wielding irishmen, I say go for it!

[weldo]

Originally Posted by Stickman

Works great in America.

think you may have missed the point a little there .... ?

you go to most European capital cities and police are caually armed ... can't say I've ever felt intimidated in the presence, and the gun culture certainly doesn't exist like it does in the states - that's a whole different ball game .....

i say go for it !!
carry them - but don't shoot innocent commuters, next time 'eh ?

[Stickman]

Originally Posted by weldo

think you may have missed the point a little there .... ?

I think you have.

It was a reference to how things could go. Worst case scenario maybe (no offense, yanks ) but mainland Europe isn't a reliable guide either. They might have casual guns, but they have casual drinking. We binge.

[Andy]

i say no, i don't wanna risk the UK developing a US-esque gun culture.
keep guns away from everyone, full stop

[weldo]

Originally Posted by team-andy

keep guns away from everyone, full stop

yeah, and stop them from stabbing people while you're at it, raping people, drunken fighting etc ... how, exactly do you do that ???

guns are here and available already - some 15 year old was shot 2 streets away from me a few months back - kids with chips on their shoulders getting into it.

i don't think keeping police unarmed will prevent anything ... but it may become a deterent (of sorts)

and the US has had a few hundred years of 'constitutional rights' to develop into the often fucked-up society it is today (no offence) ...

Charlton fuckin' Heston and the NRA are just as guilty as gangs for the violence.

[pgo]

And we only needed those constitutional rights and guns because of bastards like you bunch trying to tell us what to do. Tax my tea will you!

Anyway, as if you didn't know, all cops over here carry a handgun - usually a semi-automatic pistol. Some have shotguns in their cars, the SWAT teams and whatnot carry automatic rifles (military style, baby!)

I don't see a problem with cops carrying guns (that is, a problem in terms of crime rates). It's not them who (usually) commit crimes - those guns are taken care of and protected/kept out of the wrong hands/traced/serial numbered and inventoried more than any other guns.

[Stickman]

Fair point, but the argument is more that when your enemy has guns, you get guns (or bigger guns). So, arm the police and more criminals will use them.

And btw, I don't think we'll be invading for a while yet.

I don't see what benefit it can have. Before you worry about guns, you should sort out the kind of laws that mean people like datahound mentioned are punished. He should have been supported from the start, not after being suspended, appeals etc.

[tomson]

Guns, no.
The right to give someone a good kicking - definitely.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Stickman

when your enemy has guns, you get guns (or bigger guns). So, arm the police and more criminals will use them.

i agree completely,

and with the statement about guns being already here, hardly.
i've never heard of anybody being shot, or even threatened with a gun anywhere around my city.
although yeah, im middle class and white i went to a rough school, where we had some bad seeds and there were never even any rumours of guns ever being used.
and, to be honest i'm more likely to experience this first hand than most of you here.

[weldo]

Originally Posted by team-andy

i agree completely,

how big do the guns have to be ??
and, how long do we have to wait before we try to disarm the dickheads ??

I'm not saying i want coppers waving guns around all the time, I just think that it may help prevent some of them 'loose cannons' from trying to 'prove themselves' and assuming they'll get away with it ..

Having armed response units is fine, if they're active, VISIBLE, well trained and only 30 seconds away from an incident ... its common for people to still wait for the regular police to turn up (to all kinds of incidents) for ages ...

that's not much use when there's a scally on the loose 'tooled up', coked up and with a chip on his shoulder the size of Wales !!

Originally Posted by team-andy

and with the statement about guns being already here, hardly.
i've never heard of anybody being shot, or even threatened with a gun anywhere around my city.

trust me - there's been a spate of around 6 or 7 tit-for-tat shootings around liverpool in the last few months - mostly by kids who think they're A BIG MAN if they use them, or take a dislike to someone bad mouthing them, or selling more drugs than them ...

this weeks story - http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0...name_page.html

so ... pray tell .... just what is the answer ???

[datahound]

castration

[weldo]

hmmm .... it's tricky to do that kind of procedure when the patient is pointing a 9mm semi auto in yer face