It has came out in the news this morning that Police in the UK for the first time ever will have permanent armed patrols in hot-spots for gang related violence.
The officers will have semi-automatic Glock handguns and Heckler automatic rifles.
I am all for it, while there is a problem with gang culture and "post-code wars" between rival gangs I think the main problem is coming from the kids who are growing up with a lack of respect towards authority because they do not fear them.
It is a sad day in the UK when Police need to hold a deadly weapon to get some respect from groups of teenage kids, but if that is what it takes then so be it.
I like most genuine law obiding good people in the UK are scared to go down certain streets nowadays, even in broad daylight as there is so much unprovoked and mindless violence. This is mainly because the red tape that the Police force need to follow means that they can not respond even if they are only 1 minute away until there is a second patrol within the area too, and most of the time when they do get there they are pelted with stones and laughed at by the offenders.
I watch alot of the programmes on TV like StreetCrime Uk, Brit Cops Frontline etc and time and time again you see drunks and yobs swearing at police and even hitting them, you have to wonder how many of these would even dare it if they knew the policeman had a gun.
I was reading an article in a national tabloid about it just now. In it the reporter is appealing against this and says that it will just mean that gangs will get more guns. She says to solve the problem "they need to take the guns off the street, not put more on"
But I think that is ridiculous, they are not talking about making guns available to everybody and having them on sale in shops. They are giving them to the police.
There is a gun crises and although it is not a common thing that there is a shooting there is several each year, and in my opinion one shooting is one too many.
Finally, I believe it is more important that they do arm the police in these hot-spots as the guns that are being used by criminals and gangs are often converted pellet guns and pretty basic. So if the police do act now and take these offenders off the street it will be alot better than waiting a few years for them to get hold of more dangerous and higher quality weapons.
Well I can tell you that adding guns to the police will not solve the crimes or even lessen the crime rate in these areas. You have to remember that these people feel they own and rule these areas. The best way to take these areas away form these criminals is for the people who live there to kick them out.
I disagree, I live on a council estate. It isn't so bad and there is not many incidents of serious crime in the past few years but I did used to live on an estate where it was pretty violent and it was quite a common site to see a stolen care being set on fire.
The trouble as in most areas is caused by a minority of people and in an ideal world the residents who are law obiding and good people would all stand together and have them removed.
But it is never going to happen, anybody who speaks out against thugs gets victimised and harrassed so nobody else will say anything else and just be thankful it is not happening to them. The public pay taxes to fun the police and they should be the ones who protect them and rid the streets of trouble. If they need guns to do it I would happily pay more taxes in exchange for sleeping easy without fear of my car being stolen or damaged just because some teenage kids have had a few beers.
You prove my case. People do not want to get involved and they are the ones who are allowing these few people to ruin the neighborhood. They feel that if they say something they will be victimized and then can not understand it when they are victimized for being silent. The more people stand up to the few who are causing the problems the more likely they are going to go elsewhere. I have seen this happen in the inner cities here in the USA where a lot of violence is caused by guns. Normal law abiding citizens have taken back their neighborhoods without the use of violence or weapons.
It is all too easy to say and not easy to do.
People with families to protect can not possibly be expected to make themselves targets by standing up to these thugs.
I would never be able to live with myself if I ever went out and shouted at a person for damaging property and then in retaliation my younger brother or parents were assaulted.
The police have the responsibility to make it safe, I as a member of public would back them 100% with anything they ask for example whitness statements and giving information to arrest criminals.