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“”Yep, I think it was England, IIRC right now... (Kinda tired here... LOL). No guns allowed even for the police. VERY scary if you ask me...””

Nah I live here. It’s not scary at all. We don’t have the gun crime rate and gun murder rate that America has (thankfully). Brits have never known the average policeman on the street to have guns so what you’ve never had you never miss.

I’m perfectly happy with the status quo. I’ve never encountered anybody with a gun and I don’t know anybody who has encountered anybody with a gun.

It’s just not a big problem here. Sure, gun murders do happen but it’s an infinately small ratio compared to the U.S.A.

The average copper on the street, unless in certain areas, have no need to carry guns in England.

We do have SWAT like teams and other branches of the police that carry guns though but not your average bobby.

You think policeman not carrying guns in England is scary? Fair enough. Conversely I think the gun murder rate in the U.S.A is scary. Incidents like this latest one are all too common in America. Very very scary.

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. Also, IIRC aren’t your knife murder rates rather high now? I remember the legislature considering banning knives in England, much to the chagrin of butchers and chefs...

England also does not have some of the same social problems that we deal with in the U.S.. Granted, there are some immigrants, but it’s not like what we deal with here in the U.S. coming into the country from Mexico (i.e. Drug dealers and gang members). Also, we deal with gang violence in our cities and it’s almost WORSE in those cities that HAVE gun control laws... (i.e. Chicago, Denver, etc...). I never heard a gun shot on a street until I lived in West Denver — and then it was almost nightly... (I lived in a low-income, mostly Mexican area of the city that had HUGE problems with illegal immigration, drugs, crime, and gangs...). I NEVER encountered any of that outside some parts of the cities I lived near.

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...).

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... 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...