Last week the call to arm our police force reached a fevered peak in our MSM. Police Association president Greg O’Connor restarted the debate after police shot a 50 year old male several times when called out for a domestic disturbance.
The brand spanking new Minister of police “batted away” the call to arm the police as was predictable because arming the police is crossing a threshold not a lot of Kiwi’s are prepared to cross.
But luckily a lone nutter went on a rampage shooting an unarmeds oldier to death in the Canadian Capital Ottawa giving the Government a reason to terrify the people inhabiting the Beehive, including all our ignorant elected representatives, by locking down the government buildings.
The Canadian Prime Minister Harper announced this morning he was going to bolster police powers i.e. invasive search and seizure powers and data gathering and spying.
Expect the call for arming the police to become stronger here too. Nothing scares a population and their elected representatives in to wanting armed protectors than the fear of terrorism and unpredictable violence. What is predictable however is that those arms one day and probably sooner than you think, will be used against us.
Here is an American calling for every bobby in the US to be armed!
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Aotearoa: A Wider Perspective 
Also, the American you quote was not calling for “every bobby in the US to be armed.” The US already properly equips all their Police. He was calling for all NZ Police to “be armed to protect themselves when they are the target of a threat.” I guess it just seems bizarre to him, as it does to those of us who are expatriate Kiwis who live here in Australia where all Police are armed, that NZ Police are not properly equipped to protect themselves and the public at all times. I repeat the Police are not the enemy, no matter what people who represent criminals may try to tell you.
I’m a kiwi living in Sydney, Australia for many years and over here we all just shake our heads that in this day and age New Zealanders are so fearful of arming the Police. It’s not the Police you have to fear, it’s armed criminals and now terrorists. How can a Police Force be expected to counter such threats, which often become apparent in split seconds, when they are not routinely armed? Everyone I know here including Police officers all agree they would not be prepared to be a Police Officer in New Zealand. I take my hat off to those brave men and women who risk their lives every day for the community in New Zealand and all the thanks they get is to be painted as if they were the enemy simply for requesting adequate tools to do their difficult and dangerous job.
I remember a similar lengthy debate last time I was living in NZ about putting photos on drivers licences and making them plastic cards instead of paper. The plactic cards came in, the sky didn”t fall and everyone realised how silly they were to insist on bits of paper instead of proper drivers licences. It’s similar with the debate about arming the Police properly to do their job. It’s a no-brainer really.