Remember the knifeman the police shot dead in Derby?

I agree as long as they don't go OTT like some US cops, I read recently that some rooky cop in Tennesee used 38 shots against a coloured who refused to get out of his car. It's not a license to kill and should never be used that way.

I agree

Sorry mate I don't agree, there are cases here in the UK that UK cops have acted overzealously with non lethal weapons on our elderly and frail. I am with you all the way our police should be armed for no other reason than for their own protection. But it seems what every country that has an armed police force there are always a few bad apples who see a gun strapped to their hips as a license to murder. Our UK police chiefs and leaders do not have a good track record when it comes to choosing new recruits or the mental health of our already serving cops. And just to get back to Tennesse how much ammo would be allocated to each individual police officer?

I think that's a rather confused point of view. Firstly, I'm not interested in other countries, neither should you be. I'm only interested in this country. Secondly, it's an absolute disgrace that unarmed police are sent into situations in which they may be injured or killed, and let's face it that's every day, thanks to black gang culture and east European criminals, gun and knife crime is now a fact of life. The only thing that has not kept pace with the increasing level of violent crime in this country is this ridiculous belief that the good old British copper should never carry a sidearm for personal protection. It's political incompetence on a scale that's difficult to comprehend.

Apparently not, Maybe the USA would be well advised to look into how the Swiss culture is so different from their own. Guns are never going to be banned in the USA as that would go against the second amendment and a direct reversal of the US Constitution. Gun laws in the USA change from state to state where in Switzerland the same laws applies nation wide. Not sure if that would have any bearing on the matter, but it certainly did for the Swiss ...Sorry I promise you I never intended to hijack your thread as I am on your side over police officers being issued side arms for self protection. I was just trying to point out some of the down falls.

I couldn't beleive it when I first went to the USA and saw you could purchase a gun from the likes of Walmart and then the also now gone Wollworths.........And yes I agree that was a total lack of forthought on the founding fathers. It wasn't in the blink of an eye in a historical terms that after signing the 2nd amendment that they had the civil war and like all wars these led to a rapid development of guns and munitions and the first rimfires were produced and when that was developed along came the start of the repeating rifles like the Henry and Winchester and of course the next step was the the centre fires and machine gun and the combination of both........ And the other deviding factor of course in the USA the gun culture came about over the rights for the US citizens to defend themselves from the domestic enemy within like the Indians, rengades, Mexicans and rustlers etc. Whereas  in Switzerland guns are isued by the state to defend the country from foreign enemies.

I agree there have been some instances where a UK Police Officer has overstepped the mark with elderly people, however putting in perspective considering the huge amounts of incidents our Police deal with 24/7 365 days a year very few regrettable as they are.

When it comes to armed Officers in the UK, they are all volunteers they have to apply to become one and can step down any time they like, if they do apply, they are thoroughly screened both physically and psychologically by trained specialists not Senior Officers, any sign of any mental issues and they won't even get through the paper shift or get anywhere near a firearm

Those that do are then sent on very a rigorous course some will fail; some will be told no you are not good enough this is not for you, those that are good enough will then be authorised to carry a firearm, and all the responsibly that comes with it.

Thy know full well should they open fire they will have to fully justify it; they have to pass a refresher course on a regular basis if they fail that taken off firearms duties until they can if they want to try again. Any whiff of health problems or mental issues PTSD Depression etc and they are out of the firearms duties for good.

Considering the thousands of call outs 24/7 to violent situations of people with some sort of weapon or a firearm they do not open fire very often, more often than not it is unarmed Officers that are first on scene who do the best they can if a suspect is armed with a weapon or a firearm