Why do police need guns?

Just the other day, the police in San Francisco shot an unarmed, hand cuffed man in the back. There are multiple copies of user contributed video that corroborate the fact that the guy was immobile, restrained, in handcuffs and shot (then died in the...

hospital a few hours later).

Several countries have police without firearms...and I know, second amendment guarantees the right to bear arms, etc, but seriously: why do the police *need* guns? Not all bad guys have guns (not one of the arrestees, including the victim, had a weapon according to the reports). So why not just equip them with tazers, clubs or something? Or at least rubber bullets?

I agree with you - most criminals are not carrying guns and there are too many poilce officers getting gun happy and thinking they have the right to shoot and kill someone. Criminal or not - they have the right to live.

I would want my officers to be able to defend themselves, able to go home to their families at night, not come upon a burgler (which totally ignores legal gun laws) with an 357 and all they can do is 'please don't kill me', 'let's negotiate', or 'hold still, I'm going to throw this lamp and hope it disables you before your bullet puts me to sleep' - my opinion, police in America MUST be armed for their own and the public's protection - I monitor scanners - one example was cited here, thousands on the other side could be cited - I would submit most 'violent' criminals, who to them your life means nothing, ARE carrying guns, laws don't prohibit them because, flash, they ignore the law ! - my humble opinion.

I know im only fifteen but I'd like to have some say in this too. I agree with mandlyloo and amblessed. mandyloo-I understand that you feel its unfair that guns feel the need to just shoot away even when they really dont have to but amblessed is right in my opinion, the police should be able to leave and see their family everynight.

*-I understand that you feel its unfair that POLICE feel the need to just shoot

sorry..

Rubber bullets sound like a better idea. Tazers have also been misused and have caused deaths.

They do need a weapon of some sort to protect themselves if a criminal does get violent, but I think trigger-happy cops like the one you mentioned should at least bear some responsibility for his actions. I remember some cases where upon 'investigation', the officers were found to have 'done what was necessary' or was just put back into duty after suspension during the investigation.

rubber bullets? now thats a good idea
why do they need guns though
to establish that they are the authority
and if you dont do what they say, they can kill you
its a scare thing
most people are scared of guns, and scared of getting shot/dying
and this will usually make criminalsand other people stop dead in there tracks
although using guns isnt always the best thing to do
guns are horrible things
and yes, there are lots of alternative things they could use

If they don't have guns then possible the criminals will end up shooting them...dumb idea...overhere if police don't carry guns they get killed. Rubber bullets I can understand if people that are protesting etc are getting out of hand..useful tool then, but when facing a real criminal I vouch for guns to keep the police safe.

In Canada, many police carry tazers. This has contributed to the increased death rate from tazer fire in this country. It is not the police force as a whole, but individual officers who are trigger happy. The use of force has become excessive.
More training for non lethal take down of criminals is a better option than removing arms from police.

I would love to see a point at which our police would not need to carry guns, like bobbys in london. Unfortunately, the genie is out of the bottle, and with guns so pervasive and easily attainable, cops do need to be armed. Howerever they should be held to a much higher standard than they are right now. They need to be held accountable for negligence and abuse. It did not take 41 shots to protect four cops from and unarmed Amadou Diallo. The fact that cops get away with this type of behavior is a travesty of justice.

I completely agree, cops should have tazers, battons, rubber bullets, that kinda thing. The only place I would allow cops to have guns would be at airports I think there needed there but shooting someone in cuffs, thats just wrong, I hope they loose their job(s) and have guns taken away from them/him. I know police go through a lot of hard physical training to become a police officer but come on, that misstreatment is just terrible. it really must stop.

I have an uncle who is a small town retired sherif's deputy who never fired his gun once in the line of duty. I don't know if he ever had to draw though.

It would be great if some day the police didn't need guns but with the number of guns out there I don't think disarming them would be possible.

I did have a cop draw on me once. I was managing a bike shop and forgetting my bag I ran back in in the middle of the night to pick it up. Thinking I was a burgler a policeman waited for me at the front door with his pistol drawn. Staring down the business end of a gun with my arms raised I told him that I worked here and told him that I had a key and knew the alarm code which didn't seem to impress him. I showed him my ID and found some papers in the shop with my name on him which was enough to satisfy him that I was legit.