Be afraid

We all want to be armed with Tasers say police officers: Federation writes to PM demanding more stun guns

Every police officer in the country will be armed with a Taser under plans proposed by the Police Federation.
The group, which represents 124,000 rank-and-file officers in England and Wales, has written to the Prime Minister demanding the number of stun guns be trebled so they can be placed in the hands of every frontline officer.

Ok, no problem. Can we all be armed with tasers too though? I thought not. Every citizen has been completely disarmed by it's government, yet agents of that government want to be even more heavily armed than they already are.

Coppers routinely carry battons and pepper spray, both of which are illegal for us. Can we really trust them with more when they don't trust us?

Paul Davis, secretary of the federation’s operational policing sub-committee, says the extra Tasers are essential for the safety of officers and the public.

The police will not be better able to protect the public with better arms. To protect the public the police have to be there when something goes down.

For every rape, for every mugging and for every violent assault there would need to be a policeman in the immediate area to put a stop to it. The only people that can effectively protect the public are the public themselves.

The police can investigate crimes that have happened and in a few cases they will be able to stop crimes. To prevent crimes from happening in the first instance, the public must be allowed to carry arms themselves.

In the face of cuts to force budgets, fewer police are available to respond to incidents, which means officers are being sent out alone, leaving them vulnerable to attack, he argues.

At the risk of repeating myself, the public are also vulnerable to attack. The police do not have the monopoly on self defence, regardless of what they may think.

Trust us to have the equipment necessary to defend ourselves and maybe we will trust you with the same. Until then, no deal.