• Armed police: Plans to permanently patrol Britain's streets

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The unspoken implication that "machine guns" would be used for spray-and-pray use is bordering on the ridiculous. It certainly demonstrates ignorance of firearms training. And that grandad who called them the weapon of the untrainable soldier - I must have been untrainable then, because my personal weapon both in the RTR and in the medics was a Sterling sub-machinegun. ALL of our weapons training with those weapons was with single shot mode - they all have 'em. Your OPINION doesn't stack up against trained professionals (unless of course you're going all the way back to National Service training, with some men (a few anyway) who didn't WANT to be trained).

The handgun vs semi-automatic weapons issue? The object is to OUT GUN your opponent, intimidating them into NOT forcing you to use your weapons in the first place, not to give the little creeps an even break. It doesn't always work - but that's another example of suicide by cop, because the police and the authorities generally, cannot let street thugs dictate who can do what, and where.

- Rogan, Irving

As mentioned by others 99% of the police forces in the world carry arms. I agree but just can't recall seeing police carrying machine guns as routine on the continent.

- Anna, London

Going by the uniform and the location, i'd say they were probably M.O.D police. Shame on them for the rusty weapon. Not good.

- Tom, London

By all means give patrolling PCs handguns in specific areas or for specific operations for defensive purposes. But automatic assault weapons as shown are not necessary, are far too aggressive, damage public confidence in the very low chance of their being involved in a shooting incident and provokes far too an aggressive attitude in the carrier. No, no, this needs rethinking by those who control the police not the police themselves whose judgement must now be in question.

- Peter Haldane, Chelmsford

I concur completely - the police should have guns - I live in Dallas - have guns in our house and would use them if someone tried to attack us, but more importantly we feel a great deal safer knowing that the police are armed.
To those who oppose the policy arrying guns I pose them this question - How would you feel if a member of your family was a policman with no protection whatsoever?
I just thank goodness that this is happpening - maybe a great many people who live in the Uk will feel a great deal safer when they go out.
No one complains in the UK when they go abroad for a holiday that countries they go to the police are armed.
Go to the everday peope and ask them, not these do gooders whom, I am sure, if anything happened to either them or a member of their family, would be the first to casigate the police.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

- Elizabeth Taylor, dallas tx

This move will only result in more police officers being killed in the line-of-duty. A look at the Officer Down Memorial Page will show that the leading cause of duty-related deaths in the US is due to gunfire, sometimes with the officer's own weapon. Arming the police will only encourage the criminals to shoot first. And then, of course, the civil-rights lawyers will get him a light sentence as he thought his life was in danger!

- Steven Pyne, Calgary, Canada

I believe all police should be armed. You see armed police in most countries in the world. Whether police are armed or not will have no effect on the armed criminals anyway. The crims generally fire from close range, so at distance I'd presum they would be rubbish & hopeful. Well the police from distance will be accurate as they are trained with quality manufactured weapons & not dodgy convertions or underground old guns.

There will never be a perfect solution, but cops with guns is always better than crim kids with guns.

- Dom, london

Personally, I don't really have a problem with the princple of arming the police. Really, it's not even news. I remember less than 10 years ago regularly seeing armed police on the streets of Uxbridge, and other parts of London. It's inevitable, really, that one day, just about all police officers on the streets will be armed with firearms. My only issues are the training they are given, which, from the photograph used in this article, is obviously defective, as is the weapon held by the officer. When i was in the military, if the armourer had issued me a weapon in that condition, he would have been facing charges for issuing a rusty weapon, and I'd have been charged had I accepted it. I remember seeing a TV programme with armed police in Manchester a few years ago. The police car pulled up at a call, and the WPC, carrying an H&K MP5 threw off her seat belt, and exited the car, with her finger THROUGH the trigger guard, while the car was still moving. I also heard from a Met Police officer that the MP5's they had, had the single shot capability disabled, but I've never heard that story confirmed. So, although i have no problems with armed police, those 3 anecdotes alone do tend to worry me a bit.

- Joseph, Louisberg, KS, USA

The people carrying the guns are caught up in the respect culture. The only lesson they can understand is when somebody bigger and better than them puts them down. I fully support armed Police patrols and hope that they can put a lid on spiralling gun crime.

- Carl, London

Not before time! Whats is actually wrong here is that there are a number of MPA members, notably the aforementioned Jenny Jones, who are against everything the Met does. The Inspectorate are about to review the effectiveness of the MPA; they will struggle to find much good about the present set up, which costs much (money diverted from the Met's operational budget)and delivers nothing but hot air. Ms Jones and her like have no place on such an important body; she should be removed forthwith.

- Mike F, Hampshire UK

This is just visual spin from the government and the police to make people think that they are really serious about crime, when all of this gun and knife crime could have been nipped in the bud along time ago, but for idiotic politically correct policing policies, and the habit of not enforcing laws that are already in place.
As Brian G, Norfolk Gorleston says:
"Its always very difficult to put the genie back into the bottle once you have opened it".
BTW - Did anyone notice the rusty gun barrel..??

- Mark H, London, England

What's so unacceptable about the Metropolitan Police being armed?
99% of countries in the world have armed police forces.
I would rather see trained, responsible public servants with guns than teenage gangs with them.
Sending Police officers out without guns is like sending fire-fighters out without hoses.

- Cliff Steele, Melbourne, Australia

Wishful thinking by the anti's will not solve the real problems facing the police and the populace at large.

The entirely predictable doom and gloom predictions not withstanding, shouldn't it be remembered, just in passing, that the armed police are a RESPONSE to the increasingly violent, GROWING numbers of armed street thugs who appear to believe you have to step off the pavement and bow your heads in humility as a sign of due 'respect', who care nothing about the local civilians who can get between them and their targets.... the list is almost endless, as are the examples.

By all means worry that there will be due control and professionalism, as is right and proper, but don't expect unarmed men and women to go up against even teens that are armed to the teeth just so you can feel better about the arms issue.

- Rogan, Irving

Hysterical that people think if the Police carry machine guns then 'criminals' will carry more guns. 'Criminals' will and already do carry guns if they're serious about their intentions. The best thing is to have a zero tolerance approach to weapons on the streets in my view. I moved from London to NYC and when you see the 'cops' with guns here anyone would think twice before doing something stupid. Not all however but you will never stop all. The recurring reason for gun carrying thugs is macho gang pistol waving, and a much smaller part would be firing them at someone. Let the Police have an absolute and unmatched advantage with their guns and maybe it would deter that one crazy guy.

- Martin, New York, USA

Don't arm some of them, arm them all. Enough is enough of the crime culture in England,

- El Del, Valencia Spain

Arm them by all means - with pistols. Sub machine guns? The weapon of the untrained and untrainable soldier. Pistols would be commensurate with the risk while assault rifles would be over the top at this time. But sub machine guns equals banana republic policemen.

- Great Granddad, Ramsgate, S.A.

I wonder who has made the complaint about this...could it be the criminals who are getting stopped, and are finding it that little bit harder to carry out crime.

- S White, London

Quote: Dhan Raj, Basildon. Criminals will think twice about carrying and using firearms. Police have the flak jackets criminals don't and they would come off worse.

You assume that gangsters do not have body armour already; well I can assure you, many already have etc.

But leaving that aside; in a shoot-out, head shots will be the main target, not the body etc.

And even leaving that aside; hostages will be another main target in shoot-outs.

In my opinion; if you arm the police, even more criminals may arm themselves?

We need to be very careful here, the attempted cure, could be far worse than the actual disease etc.

- Mickinlondon, london

This is a sensible move by the Met. The MPA need to leave operational decisions to the professionals. Armed gangs need to be broken by the appropriate response of which this clearly is such a response. The public need not have any fears.

- Robin, London

It's about time that UK police routinely carry firearms for their own defense. Pity regular citizens can't, crime would be far less. In most part of America, crime is FAR less than the UK. I've been living here 15 years. Even as a green card holder I can carry a Glock pistol for personal protection.

- Paul Fisher, Atlanta, GA (originally Surrey)

Armed police on the streets is the only way to counter gun crime, especially if the police have the power to fire after issuing one emphatic warning. Criminals will think twice about carrying and using firearms. Police have the flak jackets criminals don't and they would come off worse.

- Dhan Raj, Basildon

Why do people always quote to the US when it comes to gun control?
Last time I checked a lot of other countries in the world have police that carry guns too.
And to the anonymous police officer, there are a lot of Londoners and British people in general who support you and know that you have a very difficult job to do, when you’re up against the government idiots on one side and cuckoo land liberals on the other.

- S-M Hearmon, London, UK

This is typical of the mentality in new liarbours Britain, let a problem carry on, by not enforcing current laws, then offer an OTT solution.

Why not use very long sentences for gun crime, just watch the offence rate drop then.

Like many people I do not want cops with guns walking round.

- P Staker, London

Welcome to Bait Britain,
Lets the games commence.

- Daniel, London

about bloody time....get these scumbags off our street and do it now...the police should have been doing this ten years ago..

- Rsaviour, london

Like all new measures brought in under the oppressive Brown-Blair-Blunkett regime, the only people who will suffer will be law-abiding, soft targets who seem to be there to feed the bullying instincts of thos in minor authority in Britain.

How many hardened armed criminals have been shot dead? How many innocent foreigners or drunks carrying table legs have been shot dead, one at point blank range with five or seven bullets in his head?

If the British police are to be armed as a general policy, then all officers will need to reapply for their jobs and be psychologically tested for their fitness to carry firearms.

- David Short, Tunis, Tunisia

"Harmful to community relations"?! Would that be the community of criminals that goes around shooting one another, with no thought for innocent bystanders? What sort of relationship do they have with the police anyway, apart from laughing at them? If all this was happening in my street, I would be pleased to see the police doing something about it. These criminal gangs aren't going to come out and start shooting at the police - they are cowards who take advantage of people weaker (or perceived as weaker) than they are. Show them someone with equal fire-power and you won't see them for dust.

- Freya, London

It is shame it has come to this - the US shows us that this policy doesn't work. The problem has evolved as result of successive government not tackling the problem at the root...either through lack of police or increased regulation or soft sentencing youths have gone unchecked through minor crime and by the time they get to major crime and gangs it is too late. Visible community policing (not volunteers) - high numbers of police both day and night although expensive would cheaper than having to deal with the consequences of gang crime over subsequent years, together with prosecution and proper sentencing of minor crimes (particularly repeat offenders) might start help prevent it happening to the next generation of youths.

- Andy, london

Whats the big issue with police and guns, police are supposed to have guns. Police have been patroling for years with guns, although classed as responding to gun crime, they're still on patrol with guns. Its a great idea and about time. Arm all police officers and lets have a proper police force like the rest of the world. Stop putting the fear of losing your job in to the police and put the fear back in to the criminals.

- Barry Reynolds, London

Excellent tactics.

Let's hope some of the scum try to take them on, it will be a very quick & easy way of cleaning up the streets.

- John Bull, London

"Jenny Jones, a Green member of the MPA, added: “This is a totally unacceptable departure from normal policing tactics. I hope the Met will rethink this terrible decision. I can't believe that the sight of a policeman with a machinegun will make people feel safer"

-Well with all due respect Ms.Jones what do you suggest the police do then?
What tactical options do you suggest we implement to tackle these extremely violent armed gangs? Go round with the samaritans handing out sweeties and offering them a cuddle? - Get real!
As someone who has seen the extremely hard work, dedication and huge success of CO19 at combatting armed criminals in London it dismays me to see these ill-informed and morale-damaging comments from liberals like Jenny Jones.
CO19 and The Met deserve the full support of City Hall and Londoners as they go out every day putting their lives on the line to make our streets safer.
Maybe if Ms.Jones bore that in mind, she might be less keen to criticise so much.

- Anon Pc, London Compound,Londongrad,EUSSR

... "harmful to community relations"!? Are you joking? Aren't the tooled-up thugs more harmful? Or are we again going to have policing gagged by bleeding-heart liberals who care more about the human rights of criminals than they do of law-abiding citizens quality of life?

- Philip, London, England

Its always very difficult to put the geni back into the bottle once you have opened it. This is defintely not the way forward. If there was to be a shoot out on the streets of London between the police and these gangs, innocent people will be killed. Seeing a police officer walking the streets of our capital will not make anyone safe - it will only escalate the violence. If anyone wants to see the rise of gang wars - I know it was only a US tv programme - but Hill Street Blues gives a very good warts and all portrayal of what it is like when gangs go up against the police. Giving officers CS spray used to be a measured response and we all know how badly that has been misused on far too many occasions. The same will undoubtedly happen with tasar guns and heaven knows what the results will be when police carry firearms on routine patrol. As far as I am concerned this is a big no, no. Better to have more effective policing by really good invesitgating teams and lock these people with very long prison setences, rather than let police loose with firearms in residential areas - with the dire consequences that will inevitably follow.

- Brian G, Norfolk Gorleston

Nope, fully behind this decision. When unarmed cops routinely face scum tooled up and all too willing to open fire when persued the time has come to call the big boys out. PCs do not enlist to commit suicide and need all the help they can get in certain scum-ridden parts of the country.

- Squiz, Islington

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