Anyway, British Police don't carry guns. The situation in Great Britain is unique for a heavily urbanised country of its population size. There are always those who question why Britain is out of step with most of the rest of the world, with the exceptions of the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and a handful of other nations.
Not that some people in the UK wouldn't like to see armed police, especially since two police officers, Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone, were slain this past week. On the other hand, there are other considerations that just officers being shot. UK Gun crime is fairly low and incidents where officers are shot are extremely rare.
New Zealand Police commissioner Peter Marshall wrote: "International experience shows that making firearms more accessible raises certain risks that are very difficult to control."
These considerations included:
• risk of police having weapons taken from them
• risk of greater use of weapons against the public and/or offenders
• and ambush can never be controlled, whether or not officers are armed
New Zealand has an armed officer similar to Britain, but it also has more sheep than people.
Another thing, officers, chief constables and politicians alike are wary of upsetting an equilibrium that has been maintained throughout Britain's 183-year policing history. There's a general recognition that if the police are walking around with guns it changes things," says Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.
Opponents say that arming the Police force would undermine the principle of policing by consent - the notion that the force owes its primary duty to the public, rather than to the state, as in other countries. This concept owes much to the historical foundations of British criminal justice, says Peter Waddington, professor of social policy at the University of Wolverhampton.
"A great deal of what we take as normal about policing was set out in the early 19th Century," he says. "When Robert Peel formed the Metropolitan Police there was a very strong fear of the military - the masses feared the new force would be oppressive." A force that did not routinely carry firearms - and wore blue rather than red, which was associated with the infantry - was part of this effort to distinguish the early "Peelers" from the Army, Waddington says.
One police officer serving in Southern England said:
"I have been in the police for 12 years, before that I was in the Army. I would happily carry a gun if the decision was made but it won't ever happen.West Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, Colonel Richie Johnson pointed out that:
"I don't think practically it could work because of the training. Officers in this country are highly trained and this would extend to firearms training, too. But, at the moment, with all the cuts, we can't put enough officers in the cars, let alone give them firearms training.
"Also, the police in this country are always under so much scrutiny. Look at the issue of Tasers, the civil liberty groups think they are one of the most inhumane things going.
"I was previously injured badly in an assault. My colleague and I feared for our lives - thankfully other officers came to our aid. I don't think a gun - or a Taser for that matter - would have helped us in that situation. Communication is one of the best tools, and to be honest, having a gun could make an officer feel over-confident."
"Our citizens are armed - even the bad ones. The criminal element here is better armed than the police departments most of the times, due to budget constraints.The United States is a war zone, which isn't going to change anytime soon: no matter how high the body count.
"It would be impossible for us to do our job if we weren't armed. I'd have to quit. I worked narcotics for 20 years and definitely in that field, how would you do that job without being armed? Even as a patrolman, you're reactive. The other guy knows what he's going to do. It definitely has to be armed when you have to be reactive.
"The public expects us to be armed - when they call in the cavalry that's exactly what they want. The general public, because of television, they believe that we're a lot better armed than we really are. You respond to a call and they say 'Where's your machine gun?'"
On the other hand, other parts of the world are quite happy to live in peace, under the rule of law, and aren't too willing to change anytime soon either.
But as the BBC's Mark Easton pointed out, "If the consequence of Tuesday's double murder is a display of militaristic toughness, the troubled inner-city estates may become even more difficult to police."
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