Re: Boris Johnson: We can't rule out a Paris style attack
 

Without the risk of sounding macabre, lets face it here, no Jihadi is going to start in his AK rampage in front of the police.

The idea of him pulling his AK out and instantly being spotted and deftly shot by armed police is absurd. There will be loss of life I'm afraid.

The solution is simple, more armed officers in London, I think that's agreeable as a country, armed with a glock and an MP5 at all times, not secured away in their vehicle. These need to be normal beat officers trained to SCO19 standards and continue their normal duties like they have for their serving duration.

That could aid prevention but it's far from solid, GCHQ has a far bigger role to play here than any firearm can prevent.

Aside from that, our response is elite, that's enough said about that, anyone that doubts the response and ability of SCO19 needn't worry, they're one of the greatest elite police firearms units on the planet.

The true aim is keeping the loss of life down to absolute minimum. It's sad that it likely couldn't entirely be prevented in that situation but it's been made clear GCHQ has a hand in complete prevention.

Re: Boris Johnson: We can't rule out a Paris style attack
 

Permanently armed with a sidearm yes, more powerful weapons no. By all means have them more readily accessible than currently with a level of training to use them to a reasonable degree but it's not possible to undertake a lot of day to day Policing tasks with a carbine in your hands.

Plus training a large number of officers to full firearms standards isn't a realistic scenario in terms of training time and cost. An extra two weeks basic training initially plus a few days each year is possible, 9+ weeks plus refresher courses every few months isn't.

Re: Boris Johnson: We can't rule out a Paris style attack
 

Agreed, I never really considered this when typing it out but it's pretty much a solid and correct point. Readily accessible is also agreeable too, in which case I think we're heading for more ARV type units that aren't ARV units so to speak, basically beat officers armed with a handgun but have access to what's usually an MP5 in their vehicle should it be required. Stuff like G36C's don't belong in standard policing. An MP5 is indeed a push but it's secured in the vehicle rather than wound round an officers back.

I think that's more feasible anyway, you can't be training police to just pull out semi automatic rifles, the MP5 is a more adept approach, an excellent 9mm Sub machine gun.

Naturally a call for a more elite backup approach like SCO19 is still the priority should one of these officers encounter something a miss, but at least being armed and available to hold his own can deter the situation in any way possible.

Nonetheless though, just having a sidearm available is a far better prospect of facing a potential attacker with absolutely nothing but a radio at your disposal.