Philosophy Now Forum

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:50 pm I'm sure that impersonating a police officer is considered as serious an offence in your country as it is in mine, so I hope you only do it in the privacy of your own home, officer Skepdick.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 1:48 pm

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 1:43 pm The public don't have guns, and ordinary police officers don't carry guns, and I am in favour of that situation. The police force has armed units, which are deployed as and when necessary.

So your armed police aren't members of the public? What are they? Superhumans from another planet?

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:45 pm

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:38 pm So do you think the public should be issued with handcuffs, as well as guns?

Issued? No.
Allowed to acquire their own? Of course.

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:38 pm And that is a strange way of describing how a firearms officer is only allowed to carry a gun while on duty.

Oh, I am sorry. Did I get the exact numbers wrong, or are you trying to tell me that your superhuman armed officers work 24/7/365?

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:38 pm I see your point. I now see that you shouldn't be allowed to have a gun under any circumstances.

Yep. Get rid of the armed police! Resolve those mutually exclusive principles.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:32 pm

Age wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:31 pm But WHO EVER SAID that 'you', human beings, did NOT NEED guns, BACK THEN?

Why would we need guns "back then"?

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:32 pm If nobody has guns then why would anybody need to invent guns?

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:53 pm

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:50 pm I'm sure that impersonating a police officer is considered as serious an offence in your country as it is in mine, so I hope you only do it in the privacy of your own home, officer Skepdick.

No need to impersonate one. I am a police officer. Even when off-duty.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 1:51 pm

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 1:49 pm Because we tend not to train our wives to do the job here.

Why do you train anybody? Does the job even need doing?

Most people are not mass murderers.

Dontaskme wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:38 pm

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:03 pm
You are evading the question. Replace "authorized firearm officer" with "civilian gun owner" and the exact same principle applies. Everybody who uses lethal force is accountable under the law!

So when is an "authorized firearm officer" allowed to use lethal force?

In answer to the question 'when', you'll have to ask the police officer armed with the firearm that question, not me. I'm assuming any firearm officer would instinctively use his or her own freedom of discretion in the immediate moment they find themselves coming face to face with an actual incident as and when, or if one occurs.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:03 pmI don't care what "most" of them do. I am asking you why ANY of them need guns.

You don't want guns in your country, right? DIsarm everybody!

Yes, I agree, all guns should be eliminated from the face of the earth, and why they have not yet been, I cannot do anything about that.

All I know is that I live in a country where no one who lives here walks around with a gun stuffed down their knickers, except for the odd escapee from prison or some other weird nutjob institution, but then you'll always get some pockets of crazies creeping around in any human society.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:45 pm

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:38 pm So do you think the public should be issued with handcuffs, as well as guns?

Issued? No.
Allowed to acquire their own? Of course.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:45 pm

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:38 pm And that is a strange way of describing how a firearms officer is only allowed to carry a gun while on duty.

Oh, I am sorry. Did I get the exact numbers wrong, or are you trying to tell me that your superhuman armed officers work 24/7/365?

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:38 pm I see your point. I now see that you shouldn't be allowed to have a gun under any circumstances.

Yep. Get rid of the armed police! Resolve those mutually exclusive principles.

commonsense wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:55 pm There are police, and then there’s the public they serve. Officers have their own culture, their own lexicon, their own way of life, distinct from civilians and perps.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:17 pm

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:03 pm Not when they are on duty, no.

Legally, i have absolutely no. idea what that means. You have laws allowing for citizen's arrest.

For the purposes of arresting somebody who has just committed a crime there is no legal distinction between a citizen and a police officer.

They have equivalent mandates.

Harbal wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:59 pm I daresay you are also a doctor, or a lawyer, when the situation calls for it.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:23 pm

Age wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:21 pm It IS a MUCH STRANGER 'system' AND 'society' where one BELIEVES that they NEED (MORE) guns 24 hours a day just to PROTECT "themselves".

So you don' thave a seatbelt in your car? You call the Special Seatbelt Unit when you are having an accident.

commonsense wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 3:09 pm Citizens don’t have a mandate to protect and serve nor to make arrests.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:29 pm

Age wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:24 pm BECAUSE guns are NOT NEEDED ANY MORE. Unless, OF COURSE, there are people LIKE 'you', "skepdick", STILL AROUND.

I think you are lying.

Rewind history back to 1100 - guns didn't even exist. If we didn't need them then why did we invent them?

And if we did need guns then why did we need them? Nobody else had guns!

commonsense wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 3:13 pm Answer to both questions: for warfare.