[danielf]

Originally Posted by Sparkle

I'm suspicious of any poll which asks such a specific question using such vague terminology. As the poll is being bantered by the BBC as being evidence that 47% of people (polled) support giving the police guns, it seems like the poll must have been asking a specific question.
Unless I'm missing something, "armed" does not exclusively refer to firearms. The poll suggests 47% of people support arming police, but nowhere in the poll is the word "firearm" or "gun" mentioned. I find that rather odd.

http://www.icmresearch.com/pdfs/2004...orism_poll.pdf

I hadn't looked at the actual poll, but looking at it, it does seem that the wording is a little ambiguous. It's also worth bearing in mind that the wider poll is about what measures are acceptable in combatting terrorism, which is likely to skew the results. Having said that, it wouldn't surprise me if approximately half the population wouldn't object to the police routinely carrying firearms.