[QUOTE=williambaskerville]
In Ireland, the police are unarmed. And remained unarmed all thru’ a significant terrorist campaign. There was a court case recently where an unarmed Garda (Irish policeman) apprehended and arrested 2 armed bank robbers who had already shot someone. I suspect that if the police here were armed that episode would have resulted in fatalities, possibly the Garda’s.
[/QUOTE]
However, it should be noted that the police force in Northern Ireland is armed and also Northern Ireland is still a part of the UK, so saying the police in the UK aren’t armed isn’t entirely correct.