Dude, where's your gun?

[objection]

I'm grew up in the U.S. but my homeland is South Korea. I went to visit Korea in 10 years since I came to the U.S. I arrive in Korea and see cops patrolling on foot. All I see on them is a beating stick and a whistle. I look to see their gun belt and there is nothing on their waist but their own belt, much like the ones we pick up from the belt rack in department stores. They have no radio, no mace, no nothing. I'm watching them and thinking, "Dude, where's your gun?" I didn't feel the sense of security around them. It was scary.

[G.W.]

There's no way I'd EVER do this job without a firearm strapped to my belt. I hope I never have to use it, (so far I've never had to fire it in the course of my duty's (knock on wood)) but it sure is nice to know it's there if the situation ever warrants.

I don't care where on this planet you live, the bad guys don't play by any rules, and that often means they carry guns.

All I can say is good luck to our brothers/sisters in South Korea.

[snocodet]

Originally posted by G.W.
There's no way I'd EVER do this job without a firearm strapped to my belt. I hope I never have to use it, (so far I've never had to fire it in the course of my duty's (knock on wood)) but it sure is nice to know it's there if the situation ever warrants.

I don't care where on this planet you live, the bad guys don't play by any rules, and that often means they carry guns.

All I can say is good luck to our brothers/sisters in South Korea.

Amen to that. There is no way I would ever be a cop without having a gun on my side. There are too many losers who would shoot first and ask questions later.

[nashynz]

If I carried a gun every day like you guys then I would definately miss it if it was taken away.

99% of the time I do not carry a gun. The times that I have I have been very concious of the fact that I have something on my belt that could just as easily be used by someone to kill me as it mey be used by me to kill them.

Getting in a scrap with a gun on my belt is my idea of a bad situation.

You may not know but of the cops shot in the U.S what percentage get shot by their own gun?

[G.W.]

I don't know the exact numbers, but I'm betting it's a lot lower than it used to be.
Why? Because, as far as I know all officers, or at least the vast majority, are now issued with safety holsters. It's very difficult to grab someone's gun out of their holsters now. A specific sequence of events have to occur to get your gun out of the holster and there's no way it'll come out if you don't do it just right. The one small drawback is that it's a little more difficult for us to draw them as well, but that's a small price to pay in my opinion. Once you've practiced it for awhile it comes pretty easily, but I know that if I don't stay on top of it and practice occasionally I can have a heck of a time getting my own gun out. Anybody grabbing and ripping at it has virtually no chance in getting it out.

I'm curious as to how you'd handle a life threatening situation where the other guy does have a weapon, whether it be a knife, gun, bat or what have you?

[Huey14]

What about the argument that the bad guys will just bring something bigger if they know you have xx pistol? It seems valid to me.

If this doesnt make sense, tell me. Sometimes I dont understand me.

[G.W.]

Well, unfortunately you can't possibly prepare for every eventuality. There are some situations that, no matter how well you train and how much you prepare, are simply going to be out of your control. A gun is just one more tool that an officer has at his/her disposal to help control various situations that he/she may find themselves in.

Actually, in our department we consider edged weapons such as knives and blades to be just as, if not more, deadly than guns. Why? Because you often never see them until you're already bleeding, they're so easy to conceal. Also, they're much more prevalent than guns.

So, while I can understand what you're saying (don't bring a knife to a gun fight), I don't really think it applies well here. After all, not many police forces can afford to have their officers patrol around in M1A2 Abrams tanks.............. although I'd be up to take the training if they ever decide to go that way. :D

Play safe everyone!

[objection]

Haha...ditto. Be safe out there, man. Take care of yourself. I love all of you police officers around the nation.

[J.DIXON]

Guys,the only thing I have to say is if someone brings more firepower than me,I need an airstrike.:D

[tacklebry]

Get this for the British Governments mentality.....
The number of gun crimes in the year 2001 to 2002 - UP 35%
The number of firearms authorised police officers - DOWN by 809
At least you lot have access to firearms, mine is usually with a firearms officer sitting at HQ some 30 minutes away - I think this needs to be addressed urgently before British cops start getting murdered in droves!!! :confused:

[brewmaster]

Just my two cents opinion:

The thing with the US/Canada, and many other nations is the the genie is already out of the bottle. Most hardened(and other) criminals now have guns and it is absolutely necessary for the police to be so armed as well. With the freedom to own firearms also comes the abuse of that freedom.

[Huey14]

Originally posted by G.W.
After all, not many police forces can afford to have their officers patrol around in M1A2 Abrams tanks.............. although I'd be up to take the training if they ever decide to go that way. :D

Play safe everyone!


ROFL! That would get the hippies backs up!

"But he only had a TOW, why'd you have to hit him with the big gun??"

[nashynz]

G.W In response to your question about what we do if the bad guy has a knife, gun, bat or whatever.

We have O/C spray, ASP baton, torches, fists, feet and cars which we use (with minimum force) to beat the snot out of any one who puts us in a threatened state.

Last time I had a knife pulled on me I was lucky and the bad guy ended up in hospital.

Those techniques are pretty useless if he has a gun. Just over a year ago was the last time an offender pulled a gun and decided to shot a cop over here.

He shot him point blank to the chest dropping him. His partner did all she could and ran. She was shot in the leg but managed to keep running and call for help.

The bad guy reloaded and shot the officer once to the head while he lay on the ground helpless.

Eventually he was captured after taking hostages and was surronding by armed officers.

The officer left behind a wife and baby.

The bad guy is know engoying an easy life in prison. (our prisons are like a holiday camp for criminals)

So to answer your question if an offender pulled a gun on me and decided to shoot me, all I can do is run or die.

[G.W.]

Wow! That's a tough sitaution to be in. I'm afraid I don't envy your position.
As I said, guns aren't the be all and end all in dealing with difficult situations, they just give us one more option on the force continuum. It's an option that I happen to be in favor of, that's all.

Whatever our viewpoints, it hurts when we lose one of our own, where ever it happens. After all, we're all brothers and sisters in this line of work.

Stay safe everyone.

[Dutyman]

Just thought I'd add to this, I'm a customs investigator in the UK and like most of the police over here we're unarmed, except they won't even give us a baton or spray, even though we have to attend spray training in order to work with some forces. No, my sole protection is a shiny badge, maybe I'm supposed to sunglare them into submission.

Last week we arrested 5 perps in a small village in the midlands, two of them were from a former soviet state in eastern europe and they have no qualms whatsoever about putting up serious resistance, fortunately of the five, only two put up a fight, but after finally restraining/cuffing him and getting in to search the hotel room he'd been using we found a three foot machete in his bag. Lucky for us we decided to arrest him as he walked out to get something from his car and not when he'd packed all his gear up and got his blade in his jacket! As it is here at the moment we'd just have to let him go if he pulled it on us, or worse, watch as he sliced up some poor officer.

[gazza]

Join the Prison Service no guns on the ground there ,bugger all towers left here now used to feel good some one was watching your back upstairs with a R/Mini/14 not now only on escort duty a firearm is issued :rolleyes: