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Should Police Officers be able to carry guns?

March 10, 2012
By Anonymous

Did you know that on average, 155 police officers are killed each year in the line of duty? Last year alone 166 police officers were killed in action in the United States. Imagine how high that number would be if it were illegal for police officers to carry guns. Millions of people in the United States own a gun or a number of guns, if police officers came across criminals who have guns, and our police didn’t have guns like the police in England and other countries around the world, more officers would most likely die as a result.
I believe it is right that police officers should be allowed to carry a firearm, or else, our entire country would be overrun by crime and murder. Today, more criminals are armed and dangerous. It is the police officer's job to keep them off the streets, and to protect and serve citizens from harm.
If a cop is trying to arrest a serial killer, and the serial killer has a gun, all he has to do pull a gun on the officer and the police officer can’t do anything about it because he doesn’t have a gun to defend himself with. Police officers need guns to help them arrest criminals and give them a distinct advantage.
If police officers don’t have guns, then many officers would die as a result of not being able to do anything to help themselves from other people shooting at them. More people would die each year from uncontrollable violence and our country would be consumed by crime and violence and fall victim to the gangs and mafia who would control the gun market.
Some people might say that police officers have big egos and only have guns to show that they have power. Others might say that if they didn’t have guns then crime rates would decline because criminals would have no need for them anymore. I believe that just the opposite of that would happen and the crime rate would spike to the highest rate since before laws were made.
I believe that in order for us to have a safer country, our police officers need to be armed to be able to ensure the public’s safety. Our police officers need a way to defend themselves and a stick and pepper spray just won’t do it. Officers need guns to be able to defend the public from crime.

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This article has 5 comments.

pasasap2@yahoo.com said...
on Jan. 8 2016 at 1:35 pm
I think that we are now advanced enough in the world of technology that we can come up with a better weapon for the police to use other than one that is deadly. Also, this technology should be in every household as the choice for protection. Criminals or suspected criminals, rather armed or not, should not be killed by the police or by homeowners out of self defence. Everyone deserves their day in court even killers. Nobody has the right to harm or kill another person for any reason. We need to change our way of thinking and become more moral people. The police are employed to keep the peace and catch the bad guy, not to be judges and executioners. They are not employed to be bullies either. We need to take the firearms away from police and replace them with stun devices that function similar to guns, but do not kill. We need for this same technology to be available to all law abiding citizens for protection in their homes. We also need body cameras on the police that are monitored by persons that are not police. Persons with the power to stop police officers that abuse their authority. Police are employed by tax dollars, so they are servants to the people, not the city, not the mayor, and not the business owners only, but to all citizens. Government entities and business owners need to quit using police as dogs for scaring and abusing people. Also, people need to realize that to kill another person is wrong, and we need to find ways for people to protect themselves without killing people. Firearms need to be replaced with stun devices, and this needs to happen NOW!
RMCCAIN98 said...
on Oct. 8 2015 at 10:07 am
RMCCAIN98,
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What about those criminals who target police specifically?
jack said...
on Apr. 20 2015 at 6:43 pm
what about when they use deadly force on innocent people who have done nothing wrong?
guest4321 said...
on Apr. 16 2015 at 8:46 pm
First off, our country would not be "over runned" by crime and murder, quit getting your hopes up. Secondly, its fear that causes crime and deaths. When a person sees a gun out and aiming at them, their brain goes blank and fear kicks in. They do something before they think about it, such as shoot or run from the situation. You may not know or see this but the media changes the truth of a crime or arrest. Thirdly, most police officers with a possession of a gun DO think they are higher than common citizens. Recently NYPD announced, at the funeral of Officer Ramos in New York, that they do their job for their benefit and to protect only themselves NOT to protect and serve their city and citizens. I believe police should carry non lethal weapons such as a stun gun or tonfa or even the new less lethal weapons. Our police should not be looking like Special forces or military soldiers, their police for crying out loud. Think about this, would rather have the 500 to 1000 americans dying each year from police continue or decrease the amount of deaths and train our police to handle a gun properly and not ruthlessly?
S.A.M70 said...
on Apr. 16 2015 at 8:19 pm
Did you know about an estimate of 500 to 1000 americans are killed by police officers each year?