# Should police officers carry guns? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 13, 2015, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548 "2015-04-13T05:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/61 "2015-04-13T20:43:28Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > Yes and while he is calling them he is the first line of defense there at the mall and has to deal with the situation right there at hand. Which he is most capable of doing by _calling for assistance from people better equipped than he._ ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/62 "2015-04-13T20:43:32Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > So when a gang of masked men armed with assault weapons seizes an elementary school and threatens to start killing kindergarteners every ten minutes until their demands are met, you expect the police to flush them out with what? Harsh language? Beat me to that response. A traffic highway cop \*might \*not really \*need \*a gun, but SWAT teams exist for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/63 "2015-04-13T20:44:13Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Ever heard of the Civil Rights Act? Ever heard of minimum wage? Ever heard of the Kellogg-Bryand Pact? All things caused by governments. > > If you sincerely believe that _every single person in the world agrees on what is right and what is wrong and there is no need of any intermediary to settle that matter for them_, then I’m not sure we can continue this discussion in good faith. > > If you acknowledge that we live in a world where people actually sometimes disagree on what is right and what is wrong, then it logically follows that there must exist some sort of authority which they both recognize as being able to put forth a binding decision about who is and isn’t correct. Yes the job killing minimum wage, the civil rights acts is great except for the last page and I understand that people have disagreements but we don’t need a big overbearing government to get involved. People are capable of handling and solving their own problems. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/64 "2015-04-13T20:45:14Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > And that security is provided by _the government_, which, you have noted, is a force which must be resisted at all costs. Except the teachers and administrators aren’t going out and shooting people and shaking people down. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/65 "2015-04-13T20:46:37Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Which he is most capable of doing by _calling for assistance from people better equipped than he._ Which while he is waiting for the assistance to show up he is on the front line and it can take time for that assistance to show up ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/66 "2015-04-13T20:52:10Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > Which while he is waiting for the assistance to show up he is on the front line and it can take time for that assistance to show up Do you actually understand what a mall security guard’s job description is? These aren’t private police. Their job, as described by the title of the motion picture that otherwise isn’t worth mentioning, is to _observe and report_. Nobody gets a job as a mall security guard with the intent of taking on a band of terrorists, and their employer would never _expect_ them to. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/67 "2015-04-13T20:53:21Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > and I understand that people have disagreements but we don’t need a big overbearing government to get involved. People are capable of handling and solving their own problems. If people are capable of solving their own problems, then why were government and police ever _created_ in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/68 "2015-04-13T20:55:20Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > If it really gets to that point, which I doubt, than how about having the school teachers and administrators be armed? It works very well in Israel! Israel has the best security for their schools of any school system in the world. You mean the country that requires mandatory military service? That is how they can have armed personnel in schools. They are trained soldiers. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/69 "2015-04-13T21:02:28Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Do you actually understand what a mall security guard’s job description is? These aren’t private police. Their job, as described by the title of the motion picture that otherwise isn’t worth mentioning, is to _observe and report_. Nobody gets a job as a mall security guard with the intent of taking on a band of terrorists, and their employer would never _expect_ them to. Yes I do and do you understand that they are right there and than when the action starts and are in the middle of it? ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/70 "2015-04-13T21:03:28Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > If people are capable of solving their own problems, then why were government and police ever _created_ in the first place? Governments have failed to protect people and only are here for the elite to rule over people. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/71 "2015-04-13T21:04:28Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > You mean the country that requires mandatory military service? That is how they can have armed personnel in schools. They are trained soldiers. I don’t agree with that either but regardless people don’t have to be in the service to learn how to use a weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/72 "2015-04-13T21:10:56Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > Governments have failed to protect people You mentioned the Holocaust earlier as an example of an evil done by “government”. Do you understand what it was that _ended_ the Holocaust? It sure as hell wasn’t the free market, or concerned private citizens who taught themselves how to handle weapons, or humanity’s innate sense of right and wrong. It was the military force brought to bear against the German Reich by the Allied Powers. I.e. a coalition of _governments_ united to defeat a common enemy. Do you imagine that in the absence of the Allies, the German people would have just unilaterally decided that anti-Semitism is wrong and stopped on their own? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/73 "2015-04-13T21:11:34Z")
I think the direction this thread has taken is better suited to Great Debates. I’ve relocated it. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/74 "2015-04-13T21:27:37Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > You mentioned the Holocaust earlier as an example of an evil done by “government”. > > Do you understand what it was that _ended_ the Holocaust? > > It sure as hell wasn’t the free market, or concerned private citizens who taught themselves how to handle weapons, or humanity’s innate sense of right and wrong. > > It was the military force brought to bear against the German Reich by the Allied Powers. I.e. a coalition of _governments_ united to defeat a common enemy. > > Do you imagine that in the absence of the Allies, the German people would have just unilaterally decided that anti-Semitism is wrong and stopped on their own? It was government that created the problem in the very first place and than war brought on by governments which resulted in the death of millions of people. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/75 "2015-04-13T21:28:47Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > It was government that created the problem in the very first place Really? Anti-Semitism was created by “government”? Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/76 "2015-04-13T21:39:08Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > Except the teachers and administrators aren’t going out and shooting people and shaking people down. They will now, since the police don’t have any guns. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/77 "2015-04-13T21:43:07Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > If it really gets to that point, which I doubt, than how about having the school teachers and administrators be armed? Wait a minute, don’t they work for the same government that the police do? You’re just talking crazy talk now. Or is this from the movie Kindergarten Cop? Seems like most of your arguments come from movie plots. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/78 "2015-04-13T21:50:43Z")
If all agencies are included there are over a million peace officers policing about 320 million citizens. There have been just a handful of questionable incidences in the last year. Not even a blip on the radar when one considers the thousands of contacts cops collectively make every day. IMHO the OP is absolutely ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![jezzaOZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jezzaOZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jezzaOZ)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/79 "2015-04-13T22:39:31Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Should SWAT teams be allowed firearms? Should there be SWAT teams to start with? Even the acronym smacks of disrespect for those not in the Police Gang. New Zealand has a largely unarmed Police force and relatively well armed civilians and a very low rate of Police Homicide (of and by). They have an all volunteer group called the Armed Offenders Squad raised from ordinary Police working a roster. They are remarkably reluctant to shoot people. Up until recently they were minimally armed and didn’t wear ballistic protection or any of the other cosmetic gear designed to make them more aggressive. When I say minimally armed, I mean bolt action rifles and revolvers. Sadly the taint of aggressive anti-civilian attitudes are creeping in and I’ve seen the odd ballistic helmet and AR-15 - certainly a strong incentive to waste people unnecessarily. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548/80 "2015-04-13T22:41:03Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I > IMHO the OP is absolutely ridiculous. QFT [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-police-officers-carry-guns/717548.md?page=5)