Why do police in the U.S carry a gun?

Question

Nearly every police officer in America currently carries a Taser, pepper spray, handcuffs, and a radio. Many, if not most, also wear body armor. So, why do they still carry firearms? What harm to the public could occur by moving to a system like the U.K. where firearms are only issued if a situation warrants it? 'Accidental' shootings, while not exactly rampant, still occur often enough to give one pause. And while information on this is curiously difficult to find, it appears most people who fire guns at police are not doing so to kill them, but to escape. With so many other options, does allowing your average policeman to carry a lethal weapon really serve the public interest anymore? Whether you agree or not, can you give me links to websites that support your viewpoint?

Ok, I see I should have made this a little clearer. The question I was asking was not 'do the police need protection from criminals', which they do. but rather 'do we need to take guns away from the police to protect the population at large', which seems more than a little sensible. More people in recent years have been killed accidentally by police, than police in the line of duty. That is appalling and wholly unjustifiable.

Answer 1

There was a gentleman who stated that most countries' police forces carry guns.
--Perhaps this is true, however you must question whether or not the crime situation in other countries is comparable to the united states'. Manhattan and Rio Janeiro both have police who regularly carry automatic weapons. While Manhattan is among cities in the US with the lowest crime (per capita), traffic lights in Rio are optional for fear of car jackings. By-the-way, rubber bullets are not always the ammunition of choice for the NYPD.

There was a comment that the UK has more terror events than the US. I've lived in the US and the UK and I'll tell you thats a load of crap! Perhaps London has more terror attacks than single cities in the US.. I suppose I could believe that. But I doubt it's because our police have sticks. It's probably because there are more countries that were specifically abused by the British empire. Or because the London is not as cut-off from the rest of the world as the US (geographically speaking). Its a medium flight or boat ride from many of the terror hotspots. There are NO terror problems in Wales homie, none. And UK police do occassionally carry guns, just not deadly magnums... they carry rubber and expanding rubber bullets. Expanding rubber bullets are so cool.. like spiderman's wrist-web sorta.

Anyway I'd like to make a few more points for discussion:
A gun will not protect you from a gun... a bullet-proof vest may.
A criminal with a gun is more likely to shoot if he or she feels threatened by a gun read up on Lynda Lyon Block.
You can't put a dead guy on trial.
Police officers in your country consistenly abuse people who are either innocent or not part of the situation in progress.
Your country seems to have a severe problem with racial melding (not that the UK and Brazil don't)

Answer 2

Tasers, pepper spray, handcuffs, and radios do nothing when you're against an opponent with a firearm. How would you feel if we gave you all these "options" as you said, then put you in a room with a man who has a pistol... would you take the chance? And whether the person is trying to escape or not, if it is your job to stop them, are you going to let them go (and possibly let them victimize someone else) because you didn't have the proper options for dealing with that situation? As police officers, they put their lives on the line each and every day to protect and serve the citizens of this country, their job is to take down the bad guy at all costs (even if that includes their lives) to protect other lives and they need the tools to do the job that is before them.

Answer 3

The Best defense is a good offense! Notice how there are more terrorist bombings (and attempts) in the UK then here. Besides that, alot of US cops today carry rubber bullets - non-lethal, but hurt like hell! For any cop, the saying "never bring a knife (or pepper spray, or a taser) to a gunfight" are words to live by! Body armor is not 100% effective, it only protects the chest and upper stomach and the back. It definitely doesn't protect the neck and head! Police are trained to use a gun as a deterrent, not a first course of action! Tell a cop 'not' to bring a gun to compton, or LBC, or atlanta and see if the word "moving-target" doesn't come up, after the words "F*** off' of course! LOL

Answer 4

www.odmp.org

The above is a link of officers killed in the line of duty...on that web site, you can find out how many were shot and killed. Tasers, pepper spray, less lethal shotguns, and pepper-ball guns are lower levels of force that can be used when deadly force is not an option. With the use of the less lethal weapons, deadly force incidents have declined, but from a law enforcement perspective--I'd rather have my gun with me if I need it. I'd rather not have to use it, but I'd rather have that level of force available if things go bad . I've had officer friends killed getting out of their vehicles to go to a call for service, so not everyone that shoots an officer is just trying to get away. Besides, the use of deadly force is authorized if an officer is defending himself, or other citizens. We don't shoot people just because we can, we shoot if we have to and after other methods have failed.

Answer 5

Gun ownership is in the constitution, and changing the constitution is rather a big deal to us. If it's legal to carry a firearm, regardless of one's point of view, it stands to reason that the police should be similarly armed.
"Stop or I'll shoot!" frequently works better than "Stop or I'll chase you!"
Maybe one day we'll live in peace and harmony and all the criminals will put their guns away, but, sadly they're available illegally, just as they are in Camden or Northampton or Luton or Glasgow. So, until that magical day, the police will remained armed.
And no....I'm not a gun owner. In fact the only place I've ever shot one was in England, shooting clay pigeons.

Answer 6

actually compared to most police officers world wide, our officers are very poorly armed, They should have automatic weapons available in thier trunk.

1. most officers don't carry the tazer, it is not used by the majority of departmetns

2. peper spray ( and even tazers) don't have any effect on alot of people,

3. most of the drug dealers and others are very heavy armed, and officers need higher levels of weapons not less

4 the protective vest only stops hand guns and not all rounds from all hand guns.

And no anyone fireing a gun at a police officer would shoot at anyone, since they know the officers are armed.

Officers need a higher level of wepons to help make them more equal with the suspects they are dealing with.

Answer 7

The police carry weapons to meet the level of resistance they encounter.
In a ten year span, 1988 to 1997, 633 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed by firearms in America. A handgun was the murder weapon in 78% (492 victims) of the fatal incidents. Over the same period of time, rifles killed 106 officers and shotguns killed 35 officers. A total of 253 law enforcement officers were slain while equipped with body armor.
FBI: 122 police officers killed in 2005
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/05/15/fbi_122_police_officers_killed_in_2005/
http://www.ichv.org/Statistics.htm
http://www.stargazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006606110347
Seventy-Five Officers Killed in First Half of 2006
http://www.prnewstoday.com/release.htm?cat=legal&dat=20060726&rl=DCTU04025072006-1

Answer 8

Simply put, the police carry guns because many of the crooks have them, too. Here in Reading, PA, an officer was shot and killed within the last month when he was trying to break up a barroom scuffle.

Answer 9

The police carry guns because the criminals carry guns. Simple as that. How can you use a taser, spray, etc beyond about 25 feet anyhow?

Answer 10

the law in the US, concerning ownership of firearms is very lenient, compared to Britain and many other places. so a US policeman is more likely to encounter a person who carries a gun, therefore policemen in the US have a greater need to carry s gun.