Years ago, the UK government announced they were going to arm the general police. The people with the biggest issue with it was the police union!
The UK has a police by consent basis. The heaviest firepower they carry is a tazer. If there is a risk of guns being involved, the normal police pull back and call in the armed response officers. When they do, however, they call the whole cavalry!
End result, criminals don’t feel they MUST have a gun to defend from the police. Conversely, going in armed will bring the whole, focused weight of the armed response down on you. (As in multiple helicopter level searches) Most don’t carry guns, and so the status quo keeps everyone safe.
criminals don’t feel they MUST have a gun to defend from the police
Criminals know that they won’t win a gunfight against the police. Instead they always flee, and if they’re caught often have their guns on them or in their vehicle.
Most criminals in the US who carry guns do so to kill rival criminals. The police or law-abiding civilians being disarmed wouldn’t change that.
I’m not saying the USA should just disarm its police. I was more pointing out how fucked up gun culture has made it. Most UK gangs don’t have guns. The risk reward balance doesn’t justify them. Any gang that does try to escalate with guns becomes the focus of a LOT of police attention.
Sure, that increased attention probably makes a difference, but ‘gun culture’ is not the reason US police forces often seem to do a mediocre job investigating gang vs gang killing. Nor is having guns what makes the killings happen. It’s exactly the other way around. They have the guns in order to kill their gang opposition. If you could magically un-invent guns they would be using other tool to do it because the numerous other societal problems which created the environment of desperation hadn’t been solved.
I remember I visited Italy on a Latin class trip back in high school, and got a real culture shock when I saw carabinieri(?) patrolling the airport armed with some kind of assault rifles or SMGs. I don’t remember seeing any “normal” police once I was out walking around in the cities so I have no idea if they would’ve been armed or not, but that was definitely heavier weaponry than I’d seen any American cop carrying, in the airport or otherwise.
The point that they’re making though is that you don’t see the military hanging around public transportation terminals in the US. That’s a level of militarized police state that not even the US has.
Yeah, in Italy there’s a lot of armed officials in public places and big stations (even train stations!). Usually they’re only there to look intimidating. The ones who will actually bother people (usually immigrants) are regular policemen, who, paradoxically, are less likely to carry firearms
It’s pretty common, I think only Ireland and Britain (among countries that people are likely to visit) don’t carry guns.
In fact, what’s unusual is that in many places where civilian use of guns is extremely rare, police standing around with submachine guns in airports, train stations, etc. is common.
I think it’s more common in Europe since those are large targets for terrorism. Plus if you have a distinct “armed police” they are more likely to be heavily armed.
Also, I think most police outside of major cities in the USA all have ARs in their patrol cars now. I remember when my cop buddy was complaining about five years ago when they took his car shotgun and gave him an AR instead.
Terrorism is still incredibly rare. Perhaps a train station is a bit more likely as a target, but it’s extremely unlikely that any given train station will be attacked. And, an “armed response” team is pretty similar to a SWAT team. They’re probably better used sitting in some central place from which they can quickly mobilize and get anywhere rather than walking around among the public at an airport or train station.
All of our street cops are also carrying guns around, which (if I’m not mistaken) is not the case everywhere.
Years ago, the UK government announced they were going to arm the general police. The people with the biggest issue with it was the police union!
The UK has a police by consent basis. The heaviest firepower they carry is a tazer. If there is a risk of guns being involved, the normal police pull back and call in the armed response officers. When they do, however, they call the whole cavalry!
End result, criminals don’t feel they MUST have a gun to defend from the police. Conversely, going in armed will bring the whole, focused weight of the armed response down on you. (As in multiple helicopter level searches) Most don’t carry guns, and so the status quo keeps everyone safe.
Criminals know that they won’t win a gunfight against the police. Instead they always flee, and if they’re caught often have their guns on them or in their vehicle.
Most criminals in the US who carry guns do so to kill rival criminals. The police or law-abiding civilians being disarmed wouldn’t change that.
I’m not saying the USA should just disarm its police. I was more pointing out how fucked up gun culture has made it. Most UK gangs don’t have guns. The risk reward balance doesn’t justify them. Any gang that does try to escalate with guns becomes the focus of a LOT of police attention.
Sure, that increased attention probably makes a difference, but ‘gun culture’ is not the reason US police forces often seem to do a mediocre job investigating gang vs gang killing. Nor is having guns what makes the killings happen. It’s exactly the other way around. They have the guns in order to kill their gang opposition. If you could magically un-invent guns they would be using other tool to do it because the numerous other societal problems which created the environment of desperation hadn’t been solved.
I remember I visited Italy on a Latin class trip back in high school, and got a real culture shock when I saw carabinieri(?) patrolling the airport armed with some kind of assault rifles or SMGs. I don’t remember seeing any “normal” police once I was out walking around in the cities so I have no idea if they would’ve been armed or not, but that was definitely heavier weaponry than I’d seen any American cop carrying, in the airport or otherwise.
Being heavily armed is kind of the point of the Carabinieri, who are a part of the military.
The point that they’re making though is that you don’t see the military hanging around public transportation terminals in the US. That’s a level of militarized police state that not even the US has.
Yeah, in Italy there’s a lot of armed officials in public places and big stations (even train stations!). Usually they’re only there to look intimidating. The ones who will actually bother people (usually immigrants) are regular policemen, who, paradoxically, are less likely to carry firearms
I like that idea. Armed cops who focus only on violent felonies, and are forbidden to involve themselves in lesser offenses.
They’re not explicitly forbidden from taking care of minor offenses iirc, it’s just not their area of expertise
It’s pretty common, I think only Ireland and Britain (among countries that people are likely to visit) don’t carry guns.
In fact, what’s unusual is that in many places where civilian use of guns is extremely rare, police standing around with submachine guns in airports, train stations, etc. is common.
I was thinking of British TV when I posted that so not too surprising if its mostly a thing there.
To add an additional exception here, police in Northern Ireland are routinely armed, but obviously enough there’s reasons there.
I think it’s more common in Europe since those are large targets for terrorism. Plus if you have a distinct “armed police” they are more likely to be heavily armed.
Also, I think most police outside of major cities in the USA all have ARs in their patrol cars now. I remember when my cop buddy was complaining about five years ago when they took his car shotgun and gave him an AR instead.
Terrorism is still incredibly rare. Perhaps a train station is a bit more likely as a target, but it’s extremely unlikely that any given train station will be attacked. And, an “armed response” team is pretty similar to a SWAT team. They’re probably better used sitting in some central place from which they can quickly mobilize and get anywhere rather than walking around among the public at an airport or train station.