I have been told that as a general rule, law enforcement officers in England don't carry firearms. Maybe not their SWAT equivalent kind of officers, but their normal street cops, rural or city.
Any truth to that?
Yes, it's true. A normal beat cop does not carry a firearm. They have "Armed Response Units" AKA SWAT that do.
That would be like sending Fire without hoses or extinguishers. Or sending EMS without a med bag.
Wonder if anyone carries a spare tire?
It wasn't always this way. I was born in 1967 in God's own county of Yorkshire in the UK. Growing up, my dad had a knife in his pocket every day and did until the day he died in 1995. First was a simple slip joint Sheffield made folder, with stag handles, kinda like an Uncle Henry style. Last was a Chinese copy of a classic Buck with brass ends. I made him a leather case for it as it worn holes in his work jean's pocket. His knives were razor sharp and the only person who got cut with them was himself, lol.
He gave me a slip joint knife with 2 blades when I was 10. Told me "you're getting older and every man needs to carry a knife." Did so every day thereafter until I left the land of the lost (UK) in 2005. Here I always have at least 2 knifes on me all the time; one for general duties and the other for anything requiring an uber sharp knife.
Went back to the UK in 2018 to bury my oldest sister and one of my older brothers. Bought a simple, small Swiss Army knife for fingernail cleaning duties and a Gerber multitool with a non locking blade for any thing such an item might be needed for.
The UK has traditionally had much less armed crime than the US for the last century or so. Prior to the first Firearms Act of 1922, (in response to the threat of Communist inspired rebellion) it was usually up to the individual cop if he slipped a Webley Bulldog or similar in his greatcoat pocket while patrolling the very mean streets of poverty stricken London. After 1922, it was frowned upon to do so and then became prohibited. While, as noted, there are a few more coppers carrying firearms now than there used to be, most still don't wish to be armed. It was a HUGE issue when it was proposed to give cops pepper spray and the clutching of pearls was a sight to be seen when they were trying to issue Tasers...
Sadly, the UK of today is NOT the one my father fought for in WW2 nor my grandfathers in WW1; it has become the haven of the oppressive, woke socialist c
nts who have ruined a once proud and prosperous nation that owned or controlled 1/4 of the world's surface. Socialism was the end of the UK and now its only a matter of time before it becomes Muslim. So glad my dad isn't around to see it.
FYI, ANYTHING that can be considered an "offensive weapon" will likely result in arrest so no expandable batons, pepper spray, 'coin purses' filled with dimes or anything at all similar. There is zero tolerance for such items which makes the UK the functional equivalent of Nazi Germany or the USSR where complete obedience to the state is demanded under pain of incarceration for 'hate speech.' 1984 indeed, just 4 decades later.
