Here's the point I wish to make.

I'm not opposed to police carrying guns to defend themselves, so long as they're correctly trained; are of sound mind and genuinely seek to uphold safety and the public good within the community.

There is something that bothers me though.
Political Correctness or Equality in the Police force.

Nowadays any 5ft 50kg person can become a cop and get around armed.
If that 5ft 50kg person is more likely to shoot someone in a situation where a bigger more burly old school officer might be able to take control of a situation without guns, then I believe that these relaxing of laws put the public at greater risk.
Also the smaller physique officer may also take steroids to gain strength and build up body mass.
If this is happening an officers are experiencing 'roid rage' then I also question the reasons for changing the laws as they may put the community at greater risk.

If criminals have guns, there's no reasonable reason why police should have to go about their duties unarmed.
The bigger question is if criminals have guns then shouldn't citizens also not have a right to have guns to protect themselves from the criminals?

"When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."

Armchair Critic,

Where standing up to and grappling with offenders is concerned, a seasoned Snr Sgt who would still meet his recruitment physical, told me that he was more concerned about the young male recruits. Feminist education system has sapped their testosterone and some are frightened of their service pistol.

However one shouldn't be disregarding the mental health policies of both sides of the house that saw marginal IQ and mental health sufferers pushed back onto relatives and the public for supervision and care.

Both Labor, Greens too and the LNP were determined to sell off the previous mental health and rehabilitation facilities that provided a refuge and necessary facilities for marginal IQ and mental health sufferers. There they could find stability, predictability and care, some meaningful work too. I have coffee tables that were made in one of the sheltered workshops.

But no, politicians and the accountant bureaucrats who advised the (and the developers who were envious of the land devoted to the facilities) just HAD to sell it all off. Copy-catted Britain in selling the farm. There had been criticism of some facilities. That was taken as the opportunity to sell.

A few years ago the widow living behind me was forced to take in her mid thirties son, who had difficulties with alcohol and a mental condition. His wife and children had fled. Part drunk, he came into my yard one evening to make random threats that I took seriously. Cornered, I lucked it when something took his attention and he left, but my left hand he couldn't see was resting on the handle of a shovel, luckily inside the garage door.

One night he grotesquely suicided. His mother's desperate cries could be heard as the ambos struggled. He could easily have attacked police. Not criticising the busy police on a Friday night, but they arrived after. There had been nasty multiple pile-ups on two freeways and other social problems to handle.

Government, the federal Parliament, is responsible for dumping social problems on the police. First fix that.

Should police be armed ?
It is too late to ask that question.
We now have an active community with a large percentage of criminal
gangs from countries where guns are used to even settle family disputes.
They are so blatant that when their car rebirthing racket was broken
up by the police they shot up Lakemba police station, just missing a
copper sitting at the desk computer.

It is just too late, that group of crims should never have been let into the country.

That would be the diversity imperative of the leftist 'Progressives', who copy-catted Labour in the UK,

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1249797/Labour-threw-open-doors-mass-migration-secret-plot-make-multicultural-UK.html

Of course that maudlin fool Malcolm Fraser helped, going against the better advice of the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Immigration in his efforts to impress the left media.

I don't think we should take away the guns from our police in Australia, but we can try and lessen the number of legal and illegal guns in use in the community that are a danger to our police.

Thanks to our tougher gun laws, we don't have nearly as big a problem with gun violence in the general population as the US, but I do think we should toughen our gun laws much further so that no one can legally buy any gun that is not required for farm use or other legitimate use.

We need to further protect our civilians and police by not romanticising gun use by allowing gun sports or clubs. One only has to look at the firearms offences allegedly committed by high profile gun sportsmen, like Michael Diamond, to see that it is a mistake to allow civilians to legally have guns not needed for a good reason.

Suse,

How about not romanticizing gun use by banning all films, plays etc., in which guns are used; add all such books and comics and video games to that.