Hi do the police in Great Britain carry pistols?

In answer to your question a regular patrolling officer does not carry a firearm.

They are equipped with Pepper spary / Parva, baton and cuffs.

Each of the forces within the UK does however have a firearms department. This department is responsible for making sure that the force has an adequate response to firearms incidents and the criminal use of firearms.

We are responsible for crewing the ARV's (armed response vehicles). We have a minimum of four ARV's patrolling the county. We also have a dog car with a passive attack dog (Rottweiler/German Shepherd or Malinoir). The dog handler has an armed minder. We provide 24 hour cover, 365 days a year. The ARV's would respond to any spontaneous firearms incidents that occur. One of the cars is staffed by an accredited Bronze Commander (who would effectively run the firearms officers on the ground) and a firearms tactical advisor. The TA advises the Silver Commander, who will be elsewhere. Both the Bronze and TA are firearms officers and armed.

The ARV officers carry sidearms for self protection, Taser, Parva, and baton. The cars are equipped with Heckler and Koch G36' carbines x2 and a baton gun (locked away in a car safe). We do need an authority to draw carbines, however can self arm if life is in immediate danger and to seek authority would delay officer action to save life.

Several UK police forces are currently undertaking trails with non-firearms officers issued with Taser. This is with a view to non-firerarms officers countrywide having Taser as the norm. In my view this would be a welcome addition.

In relation to what we would do with armed subjects; If officers were not already at the scene ARV's would be sent (directly if anyone was in immediate danger)(to an RV point if not). The ARV crews would then deal with the incident. If unarmed officers came accross the incident they have the option of backing off and keeping a visual containment on the subject until armed officers arrived.

I am aware of unarmed officers tackling armed subjects, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. There have been a few occasions recently where I am aware that unarmed officers have been sadly killed by armed subjects.

All that said the UK will not routinely arm all police officers.

The Armed Police is a branch of the British Police Force. The normal Police Officer does not carry a gun.

Bear has given you your top answer. 100% accurate. I notice that a few have mentioned correctly that the Police Service of Northern Ireland is routinely armed. This is also correct but you said "in Great Britain" which is England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland, while part of the United Kingdom, is not in fact in Great Britain.

Hi,

The British police do not carry handguns except under special circumstances, some forces have started to carry tasers, the latest incident I heard of a taser being used was against a little boy who apparently was out of control, Hmm.

last year I saw a photo in a national newspaper showing an

armed officer standing outside some place (just routine) with a submachine gun and he appeared to actually have his finger on the trigger, he must have been trained by Rambo, a lot of them do not give the impression of being safe to handle a gun.

The British government makes knee jerk laws to gun incidents against the law abiding shooters, they just try to show the public that they are doing something about gun

crime.

The British people are not allowed to have handguns due to one incident which took place which involved the police not doing their job,( I am told one officer acted correctly but was overruled) so every law abiding citizen was banned from keeping a handgun. Of course the criminal just laughs and carries on as usual.

The British Olympic Shooters are not even allowed to keep their guns and have to go abroad (at their own expense) to practice in aid to represent Britain in the shooting Olympics.

So if our pistol shooters win any medals please recognise them and not the British government.

Hi

apart from Northern Ireland, police here in UK are not routinely armed as the government is too soft to allow this. Instead they prefer to sit and watch police officers die then make a knee jerk reaction and clamp down on legally held firearms.

some forces carry tazers but were ever there's a risk to humanity like a train or airport the police are equipped wit heckler and Koch carbines in case of of an armed confrontation the police call on there firearms unit but in some counties ie greater Manchester the police are armed

In Northern Ireland police officers are armed

Had to go to Manchester, went for a pee and bumped into two police armed to the teeth, handgun in leg holster carrying machine guns, do I want to go back to Manchester no I do not.

yes..some of them but not all ...most carry a baton which is very painful stick , some have tzar's , some mace I think not sure if that's legal GB or something similar ,some have guns depends on were they are and level of security need some have all of the above , but most just have big stick and even that is used in moderation we have mostly nice police in GB the hardest thing they wield mostly is fines big style ..revenue earner for gov..

We have specially trained police armed response units who have weapons in their vehicle but they need permission to use them. The majority of British police are unarmed and only have a baton and CS spray.