Friday, May 22, 2015

The BIG difference


By now we all are aware that to own a gun in the United Kingdom is illegal. This is the big difference from our country, the idea to guns over here is that they are the worst things in the world. It has been very interesting to listen to the opinions that people over here have regarding guns. We got some good input from Constable Richard Watson early last week on his opinion. He has personally experienced situations with people who have used guns in the United Kingdom. In particular he told us of the event years ago when a man had a special license to own guns. He took one out of the safe at his house and started shooting out his window and neighboring properties. The police responded and shot him down in the exchange. The press made the officers sound horrible and blew it way out of proportion. It caused them to carry a negative stigma that they gunned the man down. Although the people that may read this do not care what the positives are about not having guns, and to me I cant imagine not having guns, Constable Watson did have a good point. He said that when officers react to a situation by bringing guns then the next thing for people to do is take that even further. If officers only respond by using force or shields the retaliation is not nearly as high. I like the security of self-defense that guns bring. Of course I am also an avid hunter that relies on guns to enjoy a hobby. The amount of revenue that the United States takes in from gun related transactions is great for the economy. It was reported that last year that hunting related activities accounted for more than one billion dollars of revenue for the economy. Something that the United Kingdom clearly does not have. However, the police force here still finds ways to control rowdy crowds and defend themselves.

 

There is a special firearms force of law enforcement that are trained to handle firearms. We have seen many examples of those forces over our period here. Mainly these people guard major sites for tourism and places where the Queen's treasures are at. For the Constable on the street they have their own means to weapons. The most effective thing they carry are their handcuffs. I was the lucky one chosen to demonstrate how effective these handcuffs are. They work much better than the chain-link handcuffs the police carry in the United States. They also carry a baton and expandable stick that can be used in close contact. In addition, they also use CS-Spray which is like pepper spray. Constable Watson told us that it is not as effective, but one in a quite a few people may develop cancer when exposed to the pepper spray. The group that deals with riots and protests need to be protected from large crowds. They use batons and shields to keep crowds from penetrating areas and to keep themselves safe from criminals.


You can see the bruise from the handcuffs in front of my watch.


Firearm unit outside Houses of Parliament.

If you look close you can see guns sticking out of their cloaks.

1 comment:

  1. Well I hate to put a damper on their opinions but obviously the only people the really don't have access to a gun is the everyday citizen, and I still think criminals who want to shoot someone or rob someplace prolly can obtain a firearm, so that means one would have to rely on the armed police to protect them and my guess is by the time they could respond it would prolly be too late to save the day! But to each his own, we also have much more acerage in the U.S. so if we had to wait always for law enforcement for protection, it wouldn't happen on a timely matter either. Just the other day a female police officer was shot above her vest and died as a result of a robbery and she never even drew her weapon! Where is the fairness in that?

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