Should the police be armed?

Currently, specialist police units are armed, and the average bobby on the street carries no firearms.

Whilst carrying a 'piece' (to use the east-end slang) increases your ability to defend yourself, it also increases the chances of being shot at.

Most arguments tend to escalate into skirmishes as either side adds fuel to their arguments. Domestic arguments are great examples of this. One half starts off complaining about something minor, and suddenly, last week's mistake is added into the melting pot. Then the other half 'remembers another thing'. The argument rapidly escalates into a nasty child-frightening confrontation between two adults.

Gun fights are little different. Both sides escalate their firepower, and normally the side with the most cannons wins. If you don't get your gun out, there's a good chance the other side won't, and if they already have them on show, there's a good chance they won't use them. But pretend you have superior force (when you don't), and you hugely increase the chance of being shot at.

Sun Tzu's art of war addresses these issues nicely in his first few paragraphs. In a nutshell, DO NOT ENGAGE SUPERIOR FIRE POWER.

Of course if your name is Horatio Nelson, and you can see how to NEUTRALISE the opponent's superior firepower, then you may proceed onwards, and move directly to Trafalgar Square.

So carrying a gun is going to get you into more trouble than if you didn't.

Our armed police currently move around in rather hi-tech vehicles, in groups (normally) of at least four, and if they are even considering engaging the enemy, backup is on its way.

In size.

Ever wondered about those spooky helicopters that hover over London? They guide the cavalry in. This is in general, superior firepower.

To beat these guys, you are going to have to have at least eight (probably more) very highly trained shooters, two phenomenal drivers and possibly your own helicopter gunship. There are very few gangs that can muster this sort of firepower.

So arming the standard Beat-Officer is so unfair. It will further alienate him (or her) from her (or his) community, increase the chance of coming under enemy fire, and also creates an opportunity for opportunistic theft.

Not to mention the massive amount of public money that would need to be spent filling in forms about the guns, accounting for each live round that is issued, each empty case not returned and the training of the staff. This is going to get expensive, and it's not going to solve any problems, it's going to make things worse.

So if you want to pay more tax, see more police get wounded in action and have a less approachable local bobby...

The problem is "TOO MANY GUNS"

The solution is "LESS GUNS"

Simple.

It will not stop police from getting shot at, but it will reduce this. There is no acceptable 'minimum' apart from zero, but sadly there is a residual amount of crime that is always going to persist in a country of 70 million people where wealth is not equally distributed.