Armed Police

[Lonnie]

I wasn't to sure which section this should go in, so this one will do.

Not counting our armed forces, just domestic.

If we've abolished Capital Punishment because its wrong to kill, regardless of the crime, Why do we have Armed Police?.

[maxximus]

for their own protection, i would think. the bad guys usually have a tendency not to play by the rules.

[Lonnie]

Thats true maxximus, but my reasoning is, that armed Policeman will use his gun, and even if its self defence, the state has killed.

sheer hypocrosy, be much better to make the deterrent bad enough so criminals would think twice before even carrying one.

[maxximus]

as i have said before, citizen's do not manufacture handguns, automatic weapons, etc. agreeing with your comment ' make the deterrent bad enough so criminals would think twice'. by the same token the manufacturer's of these weapons should also be held responsible for these weapons getting into the wrong hands, as should the military. after taking possession of the weapons they should be held responsible for any they lose track of. it is far to easy for someone to get a hold of one these days. making the policeman's job far more dangerous than necessary. just my opinion, cheers!

[Llamatron]

What if a loony is on the rampage gunning down passers by?

In your world the cops would just have to sit around and wait until the loony has run out of ammo.

[Lonnie]

Nice answer Llamatron, I was just trying to point out the hypocritical policy of not executing a killer throught the legal system, but its ok to send out someone armed to do it.

In my world, we would never have abolished the death penalty, Life would mean Life, and prison would be a place criminals punishment.

You'll never stop illegal firearms, but at least in my world, they'll think twice before using them.

[Llamatron]

Actually it kinda sounds like my world too.

I'd also ban the sale of all firearms to the public.

[Lonnie]

With you there, 100%

[Beanmistriss]

I don't think it hypocritical, I think it's very diffirent. Armed police shoot if nessessary to preserve the life of others/themselves. There is a danger to innocent life if they do not. It's a decision made in a very short space of time and although I don't have a policemans handbook, I imagine only done when there is a severe risk to others and they can see no alternative way to eliminate the risk.

Someone in jail is not a current danger. They are not in a position to be hurting anyone. So to take a decision to end their life through capital punishment is a considered decision and there are alternatives. Theres a huge diffirence between the two.

I don't believe in Capital punishment but prison should be a whole lot tougher and sentences should be a whole lot longer. In my world life would mean life and a hard life at that.

[Lonnie]

Hi Beanmistriss,
Of course, your right, but if we had the appropiate deterrants in place, putting armed police on the ground wouldn't be necessary.

Its not going to be too long, before its the norm.

[ludwig]

I've always wondered about this myself.
If I was to kill someone and then give myself up, I'd get sent to prison.
If I was to wander down the street waving an unloaded shotgun about, armed police would be called out. They'd tell me to drop the weapon and If I didn't they'd shoot me dead.

So for actually commiting a murder I get prison, but for only behaving as If I might kill someone I get the death sentence, with no trial.

Objections to the death penalty are usually because..
a) Innocent people could die (but in the above example I've done nothing other than behave like an idiot, so this is already happening).
b) It's barbaric for society to kill - but we already do it when it suits us, e.g in the above example, or whenever we drop bombs on a foreign country.

I'm not for or against capital punishment myself, I honestly can't decide. I just find it an interesting debate.

[Lonnie]

Very true ludwig.
Remeber that chap with the table leg in a bag, they thought it was a shotgun, didn't give him a chance, and shot him dead.

[joko]

well given the levels of gun crime in america, the death penalty is bizarrely not much of a deterrent, is it - and you can't get nuch worse than that ... the issue is simply availabilty, the guns are freely available and so they are used....the criminals believe they are too clever to get caught so the death penalty does not worry them.

a problem with armed police in this country is that it makes the crims feel they must be armed too if they hope to stand any chance of getting away.

and another problem is, that any criminal with a gun, who is cornered knows that the police will have guns and may shoot him - and his only way out may be to shoot first... and shoot to kill