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Do you believe that the people should be able to have guns to protect themselves, or should the police have the sole authority to own and posess guns to protect the people? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 day ago by DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

148 comments fedilink hide all child comments

(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]

::: spoiler

(Also its funny how the far-right of the US is both pro-gun and pro-police, I'm confused by that as well) :::

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[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

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.

Additionally, politically, there was a lot of disquiet about the formation of a paramilitary arm of the government when the army had been used to repress and supress in living memory. So the police were created to be clearly distinct from an armed military.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 14 hours ago

Thanks! (Although, the policing by consent thing sounds like propaganda. Everyone and their dog claims the will of the people)