Arming Police Assault Rifles Research Paper
It is important first to look at arguments from both sides before jumping to any form of conclusion. In most of the cases that have emerged, it is evident that like Rev. Jesse Jackson are not making noise for anything, they have strong issues to pick against the proponents of the arming who happen to be the police chiefs who are facing an from the arm sophistication that is emerging from the underworld.
According to Monique Bond, the Chicago police spokeswoman, while it is quite understandable to be strong against arming the police especially during this time when the debate of gun legislation is picking, it is necessary to ensure that our police officers are safe, because when they are safe, the communities they protect are even safer.
Moniques concerns come against a background of an increasing number of homicides in the city for the first few months of 2008; from January to April there have been 134 cases of which represents a 9% increase compared to the previous years figure. There has been a marked increase also of violent crimes involving guns, the latter has equally jumped to about 6.1 percent which for any security agent is alarming and something needs to be done urgently. It seems the society and the police, in particular, are under siege from marauding heavily armed gangs.
Any form of crime increase, especially when guns are involved has obvious repercussions to the police force that are required to act with speed to counter such vice. Trying to stem such a vice sometimes means that the police officers will have to physically exchange fire with the criminal elements. Lately, there has been a significant rise in the number of police officers who have died in the line of duty, especially when they are involved in such gun exchanges.
That the number of guns in the hands of criminals is rising at an unprecedented rate, for example in Fort Lauderdale the criminals seem to be well-armed and many guns have been seized; with around 291 guns being sized in Fort Lauderdale in 2007 alone.
What this spells for any police officer is that the job at hand is more dangerous than ever before and makes them so vulnerable and afraid to venture outside to handle any crime situation. They feel they would end up being sacrificial lambs in a society that seems not to care or understand their precarious situation.
