Poll: Should British Police be armed?
- Thread starter mortalsatsuma
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No police should be armed with lethal weapons.
Even assuming all cops were honest, excruciatingly careful, and at their best at all times, simple human error makes lethal weapons far too dangerous, especially in a world where we have so very many nonlethal options.
It just isn't the case that the only effective tool to stop someone with a lethal weapon is your own lethal weapon and it's silly that we keep pretending like we're still living a good century ago when these pieces of technology didn't exist.
And if nonlethal weapons are NOT effective enough (spoiler alert: they pretty much always are), why don't we put some effort into developing nonlethal weapons that are effective enough rather than throwing our hands in the air and handing out devices that kill people with the press of a button.
Now on the subject of police being armed with effective non-lethal weapons, I think it's just as ridiculous that all police aren't. There are other problems there that we should tangle with independently, but it's surely a much better compromise between effective stopping power and not fucking killing people.
Even assuming all cops were honest, excruciatingly careful, and at their best at all times, simple human error makes lethal weapons far too dangerous, especially in a world where we have so very many nonlethal options.
It just isn't the case that the only effective tool to stop someone with a lethal weapon is your own lethal weapon and it's silly that we keep pretending like we're still living a good century ago when these pieces of technology didn't exist.
And if nonlethal weapons are NOT effective enough (spoiler alert: they pretty much always are), why don't we put some effort into developing nonlethal weapons that are effective enough rather than throwing our hands in the air and handing out devices that kill people with the press of a button.
Now on the subject of police being armed with effective non-lethal weapons, I think it's just as ridiculous that all police aren't. There are other problems there that we should tangle with independently, but it's surely a much better compromise between effective stopping power and not fucking killing people.
I could go on to a large rant about the value of life, the burden of proof and the rights of the individual, but instead I'll leave it at this.
I don't trust a judge with the power to take a life - even after 12 months of hearing evidence and deliberations. Why would I trust someone less well trained to make that decision several times a day, sometimes in a split second? It's a no from me.
I don't trust a judge with the power to take a life - even after 12 months of hearing evidence and deliberations. Why would I trust someone less well trained to make that decision several times a day, sometimes in a split second? It's a no from me.
Actualy, it would make no diffrence to the country if they did arm the police, since no one would use their gun.
Like when that brazilian guy was shot in 2005 the police were scrutinised over whether or not they should have shot the guy. When it was decided that it was the right decision, they were then acused of endangering lives by not shooting him sooner, so even if the police were armed no one would use thir guns as they would end up in some stupidly long and expensive inquest where they are accused of doing everything wrong.
Like when that brazilian guy was shot in 2005 the police were scrutinised over whether or not they should have shot the guy. When it was decided that it was the right decision, they were then acused of endangering lives by not shooting him sooner, so even if the police were armed no one would use thir guns as they would end up in some stupidly long and expensive inquest where they are accused of doing everything wrong.
I don't know about Britain, but I'm pretty sure that in America that all the criminals would definitely be polite and civil enough to lay drop their weapons just because the police weren't allowed to carry guns.
I think that on a case-by-case basis maybe it would be more effective?
I mean, giving officers the same amount of fire-power in the roughest parts of London as the officers who walk past the local preschool in the country just seems ludicrous. I think the biggest fear is that guns will be normalised in the view of the police and will make them all the more likely to pull them out for no adequate reason.
If the police had incredibly strict restrictions on their gun-usage and there was always accountability of the individual officer, then maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing in certain areas. Even little things like a tab printed on the side of the gun inside it's holster (it is holster, right? o.o) that splits when the gun is withdrawn is a constant reminder to the officer holding it that it's not something to be show off and used.
People should fear being on one end of the gun as much as the other. I think most people in England are just afraid that gun-crime will soar and a new paranoia about armed thugs will sweep the nation a la USA.
I mean, giving officers the same amount of fire-power in the roughest parts of London as the officers who walk past the local preschool in the country just seems ludicrous. I think the biggest fear is that guns will be normalised in the view of the police and will make them all the more likely to pull them out for no adequate reason.
If the police had incredibly strict restrictions on their gun-usage and there was always accountability of the individual officer, then maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing in certain areas. Even little things like a tab printed on the side of the gun inside it's holster (it is holster, right? o.o) that splits when the gun is withdrawn is a constant reminder to the officer holding it that it's not something to be show off and used.
People should fear being on one end of the gun as much as the other. I think most people in England are just afraid that gun-crime will soar and a new paranoia about armed thugs will sweep the nation a la USA.
Now, in an ideal world, I think police should be able to have guns, simply because of the symbolic power they possess (and literal power too, I guess). "If you disobey the law, you should be prepared to face the consequences. Otherwise, you will give it the respect it deserves. I have the power to bring you down, but I have refrained from doing so for now," it says. But you NEVER draw that weapon, not unless your life is on the line, because once you've drawn that gun and the criminal is refusing to acknowledge you, you've left yourself with no choice but to shoot or to back out and lose any authority you had. A police officer should have a non-lethal weapon too, one like a taser or some non-lethal rounds, for those occasions when force is necessary.
But we don't live in an ideal world. Police aren't infallible arbiters of morality, and could abuse the gun. To that end, I don't believe the police should be given guns (although a decent non-lethal weapon is still a good idea).
But we don't live in an ideal world. Police aren't infallible arbiters of morality, and could abuse the gun. To that end, I don't believe the police should be given guns (although a decent non-lethal weapon is still a good idea).
Maybe the police should be armed during the London Marathon in case some suicide bombers come dressed like the Honey Monster
By that logic you should be suspicious of everyone who has ever learned a martial art. The only purpose of them is to hurt other people, so that must mean they want to hurt people, right?Iron Mal said:
Your police aren't armed? Our police have guns, nightsticks, pepper spray, tazers, etc. And those are just the walk-the-streets dudes. So if a drunk guy assaults them they are just supposed to ask him nicely to stop? This no sense makes.
If regular police had guns, it would probably lower crime, but I do not personally believe guns solve as many problems as they cause.
There are specialist units, and tasers are more than adequate.
I feel safe approaching police officers, if they were armed, i'd feel threatened. In a way, I would feel some of my civil liberties would be removed.
The armed police at airports make me feel uneasy.
If police had guns, I for one would not feel safer.
There are specialist units, and tasers are more than adequate.
I feel safe approaching police officers, if they were armed, i'd feel threatened. In a way, I would feel some of my civil liberties would be removed.
The armed police at airports make me feel uneasy.
If police had guns, I for one would not feel safer.