Should the British police carry firearms?
The police of today in Britain face increasing levels of violence. Violent street crime is higher today than at any other time in Britain. Between April and November 2001 the number of murders in the Metropolitan police area committed with a firearm soared by almost 90% over the same period a year earlier. Armed street robberies rose, in the same period from 435 to 667 in 2001- an increase of 53%- while overall in the capital there were 45,255 street robberies and snatches last year against 32,497 in 2000. With both street robbery and gun crime on a sharp increase there are fears that the two trends will overlap to create a more regular occurrence of muggers upgrading from knives to guns. No one knows exactly how many illegal firearms there are in Britain, but people have estimated between 200,000 and several millions. All this is hard to believe if you remember the police crackdown on handguns in 1996 following the Dumblane massacre. All this would lead one to suggest that the “traditional street bobby” is more exposed to the elements of violence in today’s society. Therefore it becomes more obvious that the British police should carry firearms. A police officer, or any person in Britain has the right to protect himself with reasonable force.
