> I'm not accustomed to seeing police carrying anything more than a holstered service pistol. More to the point, you've been trained think that is normal, in c

> I'm not accustomed to seeing police carrying anything more than a holstered service pistol. More to the point, you've been trained think that is normal, in countries where guns aren't legal, the very sight of a gun would strike fear into people. I remember traveling to the UK from the US as a kid with my family. In the airport there were police holding fully automatic rifles. That scared me. I had never seen something like that. I was thinking "WTF is going on in the UK??". I of course had no idea that the UK was supposed to be "gun free". The only time I remember seeing police/security people in the US with automatic weapons (in person) was at the airport right after Sept. 11th. I have seen police holding (semi)automatic weapons in several countries now. It is much scarier than the standard holstered pistol you see in the US.