(As a general concept of how a society should run, not intended as a US-specific question.)
I sometimes see people on the internet saying that giving people easy access to guns is too risky and there should be stricter gun control, while simultaneously wanting to abolish the police? I’m just confused on what people really want?
You cant both abolish the police and then also disarm the citizens, gotta pick one. So which is it, internet? Self-policing with guns? Or reform the police?
[Please state what country you’re in]
---
(Also its funny how the far-right of the US is both pro-gun and pro-police, I’m confused by that as well)
Those “some European countries” would be UK and Ireland for historical reasons. It is not really a widespread thing anywhere else.
Hmm, what are the historical reasons?
I wasn’t actually sure what the breakdown is across the continent, so I left it vague. I’m guessing French police are always armed.
In the UK, one of the first modern (ie publicly salaried) police forces was the Metropolitan police, founded in 1829 on the principle of “policing by consent” rather than by force. In other words, our police uphold the law because we want them to not because they have shooters.
Dutch police aren’t always I think (but often yes), and I seem to remember that Icelandic police almost never does. I don’t know for most countries but afaik it’s not as uncommon as that for them not to wear guns