Met Officers To Be Asked If They Want To Carry Guns

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38547203

What do we all think about the routine arming of all Police Officers in London ?

[andy-hughes]

AOG - // knew when I typed 'armed' that someone would come up with that 'smart' piece of deduction.

But since it was you who took the bait, yes you have made it quite clear in the past that you are against 'armed forces', much better to train them to mash a cup of tea and brush up on their negotiating skills, and then invite their enemy to join them in a little chat over a nice cup of tea. //

If your idea of debate is to 'bait' someone into responding to your nonsensical point, which you admit was made purely to receive the reaction you wanted - then you have succeeded.

If you have then planned to use that opportunity to deride a view which you do not hold, then again you have succeeded.

But really, all you have done is provide a brief and pointless distraction from mikey's thread for your own unfathomable ends.

I am just sorry to have been the unwitting responder who has facilitated this redundant side-tracking, and I for one will be pursuing it no further.

Hopefully we can now return to the point under discussion.

[anotheoldgit]

mikey4444

/// AOG....now you are being silly ! ///

It would be more sensible to address your rather rude reply, to the person who stated this?

/// because without guns, they would cease to be our 'armed' forces. ///

[ChillDoubt]

AOG,
Read what I wrote... I said RUC/PSNI, not Garda.

Though every Garda patrol I saw across the border in South Armagh and Tyrone during 3 tours of Northern Ireland WAS routinely armed.
This was bandit country, not Balkykissangel...

[anotheoldgit]

ChillDoubt

/// AOG,
Read what I wrote... I said RUC/PSNI, not Garda. ///

Did I at anytime doubt what you wrote?

I was merely supplying further information, perhaps you yourself would be good enough to interpret those abbreviations, for those who are not familiar with the police services of Ireland.

[andy-hughes]

AOG - //mikey4444

/// AOG....now you are being silly ! ///

It would be more sensible to address your rather rude reply, to the person who stated this?

/// because without guns, they would cease to be our 'armed' forces. ///

As you yourself are well aware - because you point it out at every opportunity, Mikey does not need the likes of anyone to tell him what to post - or to whom he should address with his posts.

If however we are discussing who should respond to whom - I am awaiting a response to my last post to you.

[ChillDoubt]

AOG,
So why did you feel the need to respond personally to my post with a lot of blurb about the Garda(of which I'm fully aware!)?
Anyone who doesn't know(and I'm sure most posting on this thread certainly do) what RUC and PSNI are can do their own research!

[anotheoldgit]

ChillDoubt

/// Anyone who doesn't know(and I'm sure most posting on this thread certainly do) what RUC and PSNI are can do their own research! ///

Why should others spend their own time researching something, because the person who posted such abbreviations was too lazy to post the proper names?

[anotheoldgit]

andy-hughes

/// If however we are discussing who should respond to whom - I am awaiting a response to my last post to you. ///

I was unaware that the following 'last post' needed any further response from me?

/// I am just sorry to have been the unwitting responder who has facilitated this redundant side-tracking, and I for one will be pursuing it no further. ///
/// Hopefully we can now return to the point under discussion. ///

Any further comment would be breaching your request.

[Old_Geezer]

I don't know about "we all" but I consider not having armed officials routinely on the street as being a mark of our advanced civilised society. It would be a major retrograde step to return to a firearm carrying society like the more primitive places in the world. It'd only encourage criminal elements to react by routinely arm themselves. We have a right not to be forced to risk being surrounded by armed individuals no matter who they are. Society should be acting to prevent, not encourage, that.

[ChillDoubt]

Why should others spend their own time researching something, because the person who posted such abbreviations was too lazy to post the proper names?
----------
Oh dear.....

[mikey4444]

I remember the first time I ever armed Police. I was in my late teens and had just landed at Turin Airport, for my first skiing trip.

The Police were acting as a sort of guard of honour when we walked from the plane to the Terminal, and they were armed to the teeth, and I can well recall how sinister they looked.

[Gromit]

A rare instance when I agree with every word Old Geezer wrote.

// I don't know about "we all" but I consider not having armed officials routinely on the street as being a mark of our advanced civilised society. It would be a major retrograde step to return to a firearm carrying society like the more primitive places in the world. It'd only encourage criminal elements to react by routinely arm themselves. We have a right not to be forced to risk being surrounded by armed individuals no matter who they are. Society should be acting to prevent, not encourage, that. //

I find it odd that so many of you are wishing for this. It would be an admission of failure, when no one has failed. What we have at the moment is not idealism, it is a system that works. When we change our society and freedoms in response to terrorists, it means the terrorist have succeeded.

[waterboatman]

Sadly I think it is inevitable. I think it will become nationwide eventually.

[agchristie]

This is one of those questions where I could be inclined to answer more easily not being a resident or visitor to London.

It would not be as straightforward for me to answer 'yes' if I did reside there.

[Peter Pedant]

// How can you possible ask an unarmed person to go to a terrorist incident, or an armed robbery?//

I am not sure they do - do they ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungerford_massacre

the whole point was unarmed police didnt go
so .... no one went

The game has changed - there is no hostage taking - but the aim to kill as many people as quickly as poss

[anotheoldgit]

Old_Geezer

/// I don't know about "we all" but I consider not having armed officials routinely on the street as being a mark of our advanced civilised society. It would be a major retrograde step to return to a firearm carrying society like the more primitive places in the world. ///

That is the position that we now find ourselves in.

It is because we have let in peoples from those more primitive places in the world, that we in this country must now arm our police, not only to protect us, but also to protect our police from them.