What did this man need that he didn't have?

[Svartalf]

When you see how police behaves, you have to wonder which is which though...

[Sean Hayden]

In the US they seem to be more like the military every day.

[Sean Hayden]

Oh, and besides a gun the poor guy also lacked good sense. He did know about the dogs, right?

[pErvinalia]

When you see how police behaves, you have to wonder which is which though...

Yeah, the police these days are becoming more and more militaristic, and the state is less likely to deal with and sometimes prosecute bad police.

[MrJonno]

Jeez you spew some crap sometimes, Jonno. Police and military are trained in totally different tasks and one is tempered by strong civil liberty concerns, while the other only has to meet the minimal set of liberty concerns.

Typically the military don't have additional arrest rights but most countries do not have any specific laws on their use internally . The US is the exception but they have SWAT teams with tanks and the national guard making the rules academic.

If a government agent sticks a gun in my face I really couldn't care less what type of uniform they are wearing

Also check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmerie

A lot of 1st world countries including France have them , 'police' that answer to the ministry of defence. Generally in relatively stable countries you don't need heavily armed police/soldiers on the street but most governments have the option

[Collector1337]

There has never been a clear divide between military and police, the first police where military and most military work is policing. Anti-terrorism work is as much the army as the police. It's an escalation of force where unarmed police as the normal most common response to the somewhat rarer event of a nuclear tipped ICBM at the other end

There is an absolute distinction between the police and military in Ireland.

I suspect there is also such a divide in the UK.

However, at some points there may be a blurring of the distinction - but only as far as mission is concerned - but the fundamentals of the distinction will still apply.

In Northern Ireland there were (are?) soldiers patrolling the streets for decades, even the current 'police' are armed to the teeth. Sticking someone in a tank a putting a police label on them doesn't turn into the police.

The only real difference between the police and the military is in fire-power whether they are British, Irish or American, what they have on the side of their vehicles is irrelevant

Talk about fucked up!

A country where you can't even own a simple pistol for home defense, yet the "police" need to walk around with fully automatic firearms.

Yup, totally sounds like the peaceful, "civilized," gun-free utopia I would want to live in.

[MrJonno]

Ah the wonders of Northern Ireland where hand guns can be legal for home defence and the police walk around with rifles which proves the point

[Collector1337]

Ah the wonders of Northern Ireland where hand guns can be legal for home defence and the police walk around with rifles which proves the point

Oh, but they don't in the UK when you just said they did yesterday?

[MrJonno]

Ah the wonders of Northern Ireland where hand guns can be legal for home defence and the police walk around with rifles which proves the point

Oh, but they don't in the UK when you just said they did yesterday?

Technically Northern Ireland isnt part of it and strangely has a serious militia problem. Slowly getting better and the first requirement was mass disarmament during the peace negotiations

[Collector1337]

Ah the wonders of Northern Ireland where hand guns can be legal for home defence and the police walk around with rifles which proves the point

Oh, but they don't in the UK when you just said they did yesterday?

Technically Northern Ireland isnt part of it and strangely has a serious militia problem. Slowly getting better and the first requirement was mass disarmament during the peace negotiations

Yeah... UK, Ireland, whatever...

So, yesterday, when you said I would be shot on sight for having a pitbull at the airport because there are guys just standing around with sub-machine guns, did that just not happen in your mind, or is your memory just that shitty?

[MrJonno]

Airports have armed police/the army at them and have done for a very long time. Possessing a pit bull is the equivalent to waving a gun and you are certainly are risking an armed response

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/mar/ ... e-officers

[Seth]

Why don't you post your address so Mr J knows where to go to to give it a bash? Or are you a blowhard?

Why don't you? Or are you a coward too?

If either you or he has the balls you can do your own homework and come find me. Nobody said I have to make it easy for either of you...or anybody else.

However, if you're really serious how about you send me YOUR address and I'll drop by for a chat on the subject sometime?

[Seth]

Ah the wonders of Northern Ireland where hand guns can be legal for home defence and the police walk around with rifles which proves the point

Oh, but they don't in the UK when you just said they did yesterday?

Technically Northern Ireland isnt part of it and strangely has a serious militia problem. Slowly getting better and the first requirement was mass disarmament during the peace negotiations

And you actually believe that the IRA actually disarmed? That's about as stupid as it gets.

Just look at the "gun buyback" touted by the likes of Bloomberg. What they get are rusty, useless, cheap long guns, very few handguns, and literally zero firearms of military utility.

[klr]

Ah the wonders of Northern Ireland where hand guns can be legal for home defence and the police walk around with rifles which proves the point

Oh, but they don't in the UK when you just said they did yesterday?

Technically Northern Ireland isnt part of it and strangely has a serious militia problem. Slowly getting better and the first requirement was mass disarmament during the peace negotiations

And you actually believe that the IRA actually disarmed? That's about as stupid as it gets.

Just look at the "gun buyback" touted by the likes of Bloomberg. What they get are rusty, useless, cheap long guns, very few handguns, and literally zero firearms of military utility.

Why should we not believe them? There's been precious little paramilitary violence during the years since disarmament.

[Seth]

Ah the wonders of Northern Ireland where hand guns can be legal for home defence and the police walk around with rifles which proves the point

Oh, but they don't in the UK when you just said they did yesterday?

Technically Northern Ireland isnt part of it and strangely has a serious militia problem. Slowly getting better and the first requirement was mass disarmament during the peace negotiations

And you actually believe that the IRA actually disarmed? That's about as stupid as it gets.

Just look at the "gun buyback" touted by the likes of Bloomberg. What they get are rusty, useless, cheap long guns, very few handguns, and literally zero firearms of military utility.

Why should we not believe them? There's been precious little paramilitary violence during the years since disarmament.

Indeed. Ever stop to think that maybe they got tired of being pursued and hounded and decided to stash their weapons and take a break?

If you don't think there are arms caches all over Ireland, or that the IRA and others can't obtain whatever they want or need in short order you're a fool.