Replies

“””Honestly, it’s NOT as common as it would seem. You have to consider the numbers... The population of the entire United States is enormously larger than that of England.”””

Very true. It’s 5 times the population size of the U.K. The U.K has around 50 to 100 gun murders per year. However, America has on average over 10,000 gun murders each year. That’s 100 to 200 times the number that the U.K suffers, but only 5 times the population.

As I said, I can see why you as an American like to see police armed with guns but it’s a different story here. We find it ‘normal’ to have police without guns.

If I lived in America I would also be happier to see cops with guns...seeing as almost everybody else there has them. It seems only right and fair.

“”aren’t your knife murder rates rather high now?””

It’s still not all that high. England’s average murder rate(all causes)per year is somewhere around 500 to 800. In the last year for figures (2005/2006) England suffered around 700 murders, that was including the London bombings. That same period, America suffered nearly 17,000 murders. That’s around 24 times the murders yet, again, America only has 5 times the population.

Besides, I’d rather deal with somebody carrying a knife than a gun. A person wielding a knife cannot storm through a college campus wiping out entire classrooms within the blink of an eye before anybody can stop him.

“”The media makes it sound like these things happen ALL the time — which it doesn’t. You also have to consider how many law-abiding citizens own guns in our country that NEVER make the news, or are able to protect themselves from those who mean to do them harm (Those stories almost NEVER make the news and happen a LOT more than things like the one today...).””

All of that I agree with. You are quite right. Sensational headlines are obviously the ones we are going to hear about.

“”Anyway... I’m glad to know you at least have S.W.A.T. teams when needed — especially in light of the terrorist events there...””

Well, terrorism here is nothing new. Terrorism might be seen as the new thing for a lot of Americans but we had it far worse in the 1970s and 1980s with the Irish scumbags. We dealt with those cowards and we’ll deal with these Islamics. The average person on the street thinks less about Islamic terrorists than they did the IRA in years gone by. I remember working in London in the 1980s and there were bomb scares almost on a daily basis. You got used to it in the end hehe.

“”I just worry that someday you all might come across a situation where a S.W.A.T. might be too late, and an armed bobby could’ve prevented a massacre...””

Again, that’s a good point. On the other hand many criminals DON’T carry guns because they know the cops don’t have them so it’s swings and roundabouts. If all cops had guns then likely all serious criminals would too. That isn’t the case right now.

Cheers.