First I thought about Bobbies, is that the right term for English police. They used to be unarmed and I think they carry arms now. That made me think that guns make cultures devolve, or that fear and insecurity drive a desire for greater security. That gave me the thought that America is just a place that because guns have long been everywhere, increasing insecurity here would naturally include them as the first choice ‘go to’ for security. Seems I have read more guns here than people.
Hardly any are armed, certainly not those you encounter on a day-to-day basis. Only a small number of specifically designated 'firearms officers'.
Now it used to be that guns were issued to any cops when the occasion was deemed to require it. But it turned out they were terrible shots and that most couldn't hit a barn door at 20 paces. The turning point being the Stephen Waldorf case, where the problem was, apparently, not that the hastily-armed police shot and nearly killed completely the wrong guy (someone who wasn't the 'dangerous' suspect but an innocent man who was just driving the same car) but rather that they fired an astonishing number of rounds and failed to kill the guy (fortunate, in the event, as it was the wrong guy anyway, but also not a good advert for their marksmanship). Now they have specially-trained firearms officers. Who still occasionally get the wrong guy but can at least shoot straight.
