Armed Police

There is talk of making it routine for police officers in remote rural ares to carry fire arms, as specialist armed response teams would take too long to reach any incident.
I think it won't be long before a majority of policemen will be armed.
Full Story: Link

Our police are not routinely armed but I can see it happening eventually. Any firearm related incident brings in a specially trained SWAT unit (Special Weapons and Tactics team) but there can be occasions where time is the essence, even by helicopter. We don't have many but nobody is immune from the odd mentally unstable individual. Handguns are very difficult to obtain here but as deer hunting is a popular pastime long weapons are able to be aquired. To obtain a firearm licence requires a course on firearm safety run jointly by police and mountain safety. There must also be agreement of spouse or partner and one other non-related person. Without a licence one can not only not buy a firearm but also ammunition.

Our gun laws are pretty strict but there does seem to be a lot of dodgy handguns out there.

We had a shooting not too far away from us a few months back and the armed response team were there very quickly.

It was not a terrorist attack just a drug related scrap. 

The case is due to be heard next week and a friend of mine may be called as a witness.

This was the case in point: BBC Story
I have been trying to find something on the court case but no luck so far.

I live in suburbia with the open countryside just a couple of minutes walk away.
Gun toting wildlife killers are often seen walking past my house their intentions not always that obvious.
I am in full support of the police being armed, but we NEVER see them walking past our house.

who wants to finish up like USA?

davo wrote:

who wants to finish up like USA?

Johnson and his co-conspirators.

i can accept your dislike of boris but to suggest that he is prepared to turn uk into   'little america' is surely taking it too far??

I like Boris - I bet he turns out to be the best PM ever
Purwell is just a WUM !

What's a WUM?

It's a wind-up merchant !

malcolm wrote:

It's a wind-up merchant !

Ah! Thanks! Not heard that one before.

Purwell is a good contributor to any forum, having and posting controversial views, provoking responses

a wine gum merchant??