ARMING THE POLICE IN LONDON

Motion Text

That this House condemns the Home Secretary's announcement that the number of armed police response vehicles in London is to be increased to 12 with officers being openly armed with handguns; believes that this will lead to a spiral of violence with criminals seeking to further arm themselves in response, as has happened in the United States of America; also believes that the risk of wrongful or accidental shootings are substantial given the stressful situations often faced; further believes that what is needed is a crackdown on the number of arms imported into the United Kingdom, and the number of firearms certificates approved, 9,427 of which were on issue by the Metropolitan Police at the end of 1992; and further notes that the majority of police officers do not favour the direction taken by the Home Secretary.