Thread: Why frontline cops should be armed

So ignoring the tube vs the world side of the argument and summarizing my position:

Do I think NZ will ever introduce concealed carry? No, not a chance in hell.
Do I think NZ should introduced concealed carry? Yes, it's worth discussing even though it's unlikely to happen.

Why should we do this? Because every person has a right to self defence and that right is worthless if you don't have the tools to defend yourself. NZ is a safe country so generally this isn't something we have to worry about but there will definitly be people who are at risk and places that are more risky. This applies to both NZ police who should be expected to go into dangerious situations without the tools to defend themselves and the public of NZ (acknowledge that to own a firearm you need a FAL).

But wouldn't there be chaos with people shooting each other everywhere? This is the "think of the children" side of the argument and it comes down to culture. Every week there are groups of FAL holders who gather to shoot clays, targets, animals etc. During these events there are arguments etc and all the normal stuff that happens between people. Nobody gos and grabs a shotgun off the rack and starts shooting people cos thats just bloody stupid. Our culture says thats unacceptable and if you break that there are peanalties from both the social group you are in and the law. In the states if you have a CC permit and you pull your gun out and wave it around then you are breaking the law and will likely loose your CC permit. There is a culture around what is acceptable and what is not.

So what would change if in the unlikely event we were allowed this. Many pages ago somebody said that if a fight happend between a bigger and a smaller person then it would quickly descend into a gunfight. I see that as a good thing, if you are about to be beaten (potentially killed) by someone physically stronger than your self shouldn't you be allowed to defend yourself? The other effect is that people who beat others for fun would think twice about it cos they might have a gun...

In NZ if your house gets burgled then you are only allowed to resist if you life (not property) is in danger and then only with an appropriate level of force. If they have a baseball bat you are not allowed a knife etc If you grabbed the bloke and locked him in the bathroom until the Police arrived you would likely be charged with kidnapping.

In the USA there are a lot less burgleries because people who break into houses get shot. This depends on the state but if someone has broken into your house then you don't have to prove that your life was in danger, you just get to shoot them.

Now a liberal would say that a tv is not worth a human life and thats all bad but I say screw them, I want to live in a world where people who break into houses are more worried about their safty than the people living in the houses.

All of these opinions apply to the police as well. I have no problem with them being armed when the situation requires it and I think they shouldn't be visibly armed when it's not required. I don't think they (or anyone else) should have to risk their live due to lack of access to the right tools.

Would I use a firearm to defend myself in NZ? No because the legal peanalties are set up to discourage this and given storage requirements you would never be able to access it in time anyway. I would have to be convinced that myself or my family were about to die before I would risk my freedom that way. They can have the TV.

This is how far NZ has swung back the other way:
*In the live coverage of the chch earthquakes members of the public where tearing apart the rubble to try and rescue pople. Police officers stopped rescuing people and then threatened the members of the public with arrest unless they stopped cos the public is not qualified to rescue people and stopping that is more important than saving lives.

*If you shoot a burgler then you will end up on trial for murder.

*If you hold a burgler captive then you will end up on trial for kidnapping.

*A helicopter who defies a medical ban on flying to save the lives of two people is facing up to 10k in a year in jail.

*You can't import pepper spray because apparently thats dangerious and nobody needs to defend themselves.

What the hell happened? When did we turn into a nation of politically correct wusses?