I'd agree that this means firearms in the UK are much harder to come by for criminals and that this results in a higher risk to officers in the US. However, th

I'd agree that this means firearms in the UK are much harder to come by for criminals and that this results in a higher risk to officers in the US. However, this risk also applies to all citizens (and non-citizens) in the US as well. In fact since people are far less likely to use a weapon against an officer as opposed to a non-officer, the risk of mere existence as a non-officer in the US is greater. That being said, other 1st world nations with gun-carrying police (almost all of them) have much lower rates of officers discharging their firearms. Also, with 100+ million guns in the US, violent crime overall is down substantially over the last several decades. We're at 40 year lows in violent crime. This includes violence against officers. More interestingly, violence of police against citizens is at 40 years highs. All while gun sales have soared over the same period.