Posted on 05/23/2013 5:06:09 PM PDT by the scotsman
'The Police Officer who shot the 2 suspects in the Woolwich terrorist attack is one of the few female members of the Met's elite firearms squad, SCO19. [1]
It was reported that around 14 minutes after the initial 999 call regarding the horrific murder of an off-duty soldier in the street by Artillery Place, near Woolwich Barracks, London, armed police arrived and confronted the 2 suspects who had seemingly made no effort to flee. Both suspects were brandishing weapons, including knives, a cleaver and a revolver. Both suspects were subsequently shot by one of the armed officers, believed to be a woman.
Specialist Firearms Command, designated as SCO19 (formerly CO19) is a branch of the Metropolitan Police Service. SCO19 fields Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs) which provide the first armed response to an incident such as the one in Woolwich yesterday. An ARV usually carries 3 SCO19 officers who are typically armed with G36 5.56mm carbines, MP5 9mm smgs and Glock 17 9mm pistols.
SCO19 also deploys Specialist Firearms Officers (SFOs) who carry out pre-planned operations and a Rifle Section of marksmen who have a counter-sniper capability.'
(Excerpt) Read more at eliteukforces.info ...
You do not need weapons whilst travelling here.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
As long as one stays on the beaten path this is true. But you know that there are certain sections of Glasgow that are not safe for anyone, including police.Its the same with all of thelarger cities in Britain.
It also can be dangerous in the Highlands of Scotland, where tourists can and have been be murdered repeatedly.
I could never live in Britain , where now it is only with the greatest of difficulty that one can even have a shotgun in one’s home. The People there are having to fend off burglers with pikes and swords, just as in the old days.
If you'll forgive me saying so, that comment betrays how little grasp you have of life in Britain. As I spend a good part of every year in many different areas of the Highlands, I can happily assure you that the comment is utterly, utterly absurd. The only offensive weapon you need in the Highlands is the (yet-to-be-invented) Weapon of Mass Midge Destruction.
You are mistaken in assuming the Highlands are safe. They are not.
For example:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-21178522
Man who attacked American tourist in punishment review
Marty Layman-Mendonca had been on her third trip to Scotland
Related Stories
Tourist attacker jailed for life
Tourist dies months after attack
Recovery hopes for assault woman
A man convicted of the attempted murder of an American tourist has had his sentence referred to the High Court of Justiciary after a review.
Colin Ross attacked Marty Layman-Mendonca, 57, as she walked near Inverness in 2006. She later died.
Ross became the first person to get an Order for Lifelong Restriction.
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has decided the punishment part of 20 years is excessive and referred it to the High Court.
Ms Layman-Mendonca, a primary school teacher, was on her third visit to Scotland.
She had been walking the last six miles of a solo trek along the Great Glen Ways, south of Inverness, when Ross attacked her with a metal pipe.
After assaulting Ms Layman-Mendonca, Ross stole from her, tied her wrists together with shoelaces and dumped her in woods.
After being treated at Raigmore Hospital, Ms Layman-Mendonca was flown to a medical centre near her home in Vermont in September.
She was later transferred to a rehabilitation centre in Bangor, Maine, where she died.
Ross, of Inverness, became the first person to get an Order for Lifelong Restriction, meaning he would be monitored for life.
Colin Ross was sentenced in December 2006 Sentencing Ross at the High Court in Edinburgh in December 2006, Lord Wheatley ordered him to serve at least 20 years before he was considered for parole.
Ross, who admitted attempted murder at an earlier hearing, was told that he had committed a “savage and senseless” assault on a defenceless woman.
Northern Constabulary, whose officers found Ms Layman-Mendonca and later arrested Ross, welcomed the sentence.
Ross was the subject of a Sexual Offence Prevention Order when he launched his attack.
Less than a month earlier, Ross had been freed from a three-year jail sentence for attacking a female German tourist in 2004.
!
Consider that was only a dozen or so years after the end of the Civil War, and there were probably plenty of veterans and young men trained in use of firearms by veterans of that conflict involved in the episode you describe.
The “wild” West wasn’t very wild, really, especially when compared to a modern urban ghetto. I maintain the above is one of the key reasons why.
See my post just above.
LOL. Down here in Florida, that Muzzie animal would have been shot in the first 45 seconds of his attack by a citizen.
You conclude that from the example you quote?
A few years ago there was a notorious case in Britain in which a 3-year-old toddler was tortured and killed by two 11-year-old boys. Applying your logic, it would follow that no 3-year-olds are safe in Britain because the country is riddled with child killers.
The size of your inductive leap from the particular (a single murderer) to the general is quite breathtaking.
Three million American citizens visit Britain on business or pleasure every year. Three million. Don't you think that if even a small fraction of this very large sample group had encountered or been at risk of violence directed against them, you might have heard about it in your media?
Fine with me. In the coming storm, we’re going to need all the heroes we can muster. I don’t see Islamic fanaticism retreating on its own, just expanding. Our “president” only encourages these animals.
I visited the Frasier Arms Museum and recall a picture of your average English gentleman at the turn of the last century. He was well armed with knife and pistol.
One of my favorites. "Pre-planned" huh? As opposed to "post-planned."
It's almost as good as "I could care less."
Even if what you say is true--and I have real doubts that it is--I would not go anywhere where I could not protect myself with a firearm. Consequently, I now restrict my traveling to the USA, which has loads to offer.
My honeymoon was spent in Scotland in 1971. And while there, my wife and I thought that the the idea of unarmed police was "quaint"; we were too young and stupid to realize how dangerous such a practice was and still is.
In light of the fact that the mess you are in stems DIRECTLY from allowing - no, INVITING - people to the UK that do NOT like or abide by your laws and culture, your message to a Yank is ... simply astonishing.
I'll tell you what. When the monster has coiled itself tight around your entire body please do not bother to call (0800) UNCLE-SAM. I for one will vote we go Chamberlain on you.
That’s gun control.
My point to the poster was that our ways are the ways they are, just like yours. And if the UK way is so abhorrent to Americans, then dont come. We dont want people coming here and telling us how to run our country. Just as I am sure you wouldnt want Brits doing likewise in the US.
For all our faults, I think of many places much worse to visit and live than the UK.
I’ll tell you what. When ‘they’ destroy the new Tower, and you go to war, we wont bother fighting and dying at your side, and being an ally at your shoulder as we did the minute 9-11 happened. Nice to see Americans respect the sacrifices we have made in the last 12 years. I’ll loan you the airfare and you can travel the UK pissing on soldiers graves.
I think thats paranoid, silly and sad, but I respect your right to do so.
3 million Americans travel to the UK every year, without being raped, murdered. Another 160000 live here as UK citizens. Again, the vast majority without any problems.
You want all armed police and find it safer. We dont and find all-armed unsafer. The UK is still a country with low levels of major/serious violence and all-armed police is not necessary. You find that dangerous, I dont.
This is amazing!!! There are people currently pissing on your brave soldiers graves and they are not us! As a matter of fact they are the same people that hacked Lee to death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RtgbvotqVFE
Look, let's ratched down the rhetoric. Of course we appreciate what you have done after 9/11 and of course we would help you if you needed it again.
Let me say it this way: Maybe in light of the fact that it took 20 min in ... LONDON for the police to respond, the approapriate answer from you should have been "maybe we ought to revist the armng situation" NOT to tell an ally not to come here.
Fratricide will never help us.
I am happy to tone down the discourse, I am just angry and shocked at some of the vitriol and sneering directed at the UK on here over the last 24 hrs by some posters.
Police?. The armed police took 20 (actually 14m it looks like). As I havs said, I actually support more armed units and more officers arms-trained. But not an all-armed police force. It is still not necessary. As a Brit, I can tell you that. If it was necessary, I’d be the first to say so.
As allies not coming here, I have explained that. If people go to any other country, they must respect the way of life, even if they dont agree with it. If some Americans find the UK way of doing things so appalling and dangerous, then it would be best to stay in the US. I dont want Americans coming here and lecturing us, anymore you’d want us to come and do the same.
This is the UK.
For all our faults, we still do most things pretty well. We are still a country worth coming from America to visit, work in and live.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.