Guns in police cars - readers respond

File photo / Martin Sykes

The brutal machete attack on a policeman on Saturday morning has reignited the arming police debate.

Police Minister Judith Collins has said she supports the idea of lock boxes for pistols in all police vehicles, and will meet the Police Commissioner to discuss a report on whether to give officers easier access to firearms.

We asked readers what they thought of all police cars carrying weapons and found many supported the idea, with some even going further and advocating police carrying guns on them at all times. There were many, however, who were opposed to the idea of police having greater access to guns.

Jeannie said: "In this day and age too many criminals are armed and won't hesitate to shoot. How can a police officer be safe, if not also armed? How can they protect the public?"

Shy agreed. "Gun crime in New Zealand is on the rise so how can we expect our officers to protect and serve if they're getting shot or wounded themselves?"

Keith Walker said: "When 9 cops have been shot on the job in the last couple of years, it's time they had rather more protection than a blue uniform and a stab proof vest."

Gandalf went further, saying: "All police should have guns in holsters full time as in other countries. I dont like it, but it's inevitable, always has been, works fine in Aussie so why not here?"

Robert Hall agreed: "Of course ALL police officers should be armed ALL of the time, stop pandering to all the left wing wimps in our society."

But not everyone was so keen on the idea of police having greater access to guns.

"Arming them just means they are more tempted to use a gun as their first response rather than doing some real policing and resolving the problem with their heads," said Kirk.

Hakie said: "Hell no! Have you ever seen an episode of American cops? Those guys breach human rights on a daily basis. We don't want cops like that in NZ."

Ozymandias agreed. "No - are you mad? Nothing like a bit of fear and paranoia to drive public opinion... We are not the wild west as some of the scaremongers would like to have us believe."

Astute Observer thought all police cars carrying guns would create "a very, very slippery slope.

"The need for armed police is not evident nor compelling, notwithstanding the hype from advocates. In almost every case exampled as to why police should be armed no case would have had a different outcome if police were armed."

KOS said: "Police should NOT be further armed. It is a simple statistic if there are more arms there will be more shootings and more deaths and injuries."

- NZ Herald staff