“With guns not part of the English culture; the police who carry will need some basic training. A 4-5 day course should get their muscle memory dialed in and the need to protect their sidearm at all times from anyone.”
Good points but I don’t think 4 or 5 days will bring them up to speed with millions of us with 20, 30, 40, 50 years of experience.
You're right of course but it would be a start. I would like to see much more training for their sake. Just the ability to reflexively and smoothly pull their sidearm without thinking would be a good start. Obviously good shooting and safety practices would also need to become second nature. Under stress we are all only half as good as practice time at best unless very experienced like big city SWAT or SEAL's.
Even here in the USA there are a lot of good LEO's who don't really like guns but because it's required of them to carry; they do the bare minimum of training and quals. In the UK it would be a lot like getting teachers to carry who are adamantly opposed to it. Not the same of course; but change like that might come hard to some of those who never thought they would be required to carry a sidearm on duty and off.
I view firearms as a tool similar to the Leatherman multi-tool on my belt. I may not use it for months but then all of sudden I'm glad I kept wearing it and keeping it handy. I hope I never need to use a firearm for protection for myself or others but if I don't have one; that option is gone (of course). Constitutional carry should be the law of the land in all state IMHO. Barring that; at least concealed carry permit holders should be able to legally (concealed) carry in all 50 states even if the limit in the mag is only 7 rounds in some states. That's just silly IMHO but look who make those regressive laws.