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Ditto. In nearly 30 years of living in the US I can only ever recall seeing police officers patrolling with long guns twice: once when I visited the US capitol
by barsonme 5y ago
Ditto.
In nearly 30 years of living in the US I can only ever recall seeing police officers patrolling with long guns twice: once when I visited the US capitol, and once at a big festival/parade thing in Bellevue, WA.
Seeing the officer in Bellevue patrolling with a long gun was actually quite unsettling. Even though all police in the US are armed and most have a long gun in their vehicle, they very rarely carry them in public. Even at sporting events, airports, etc.
Conversely, during the short period of time I spent in Germany and Austria I saw many police with long guns. (And that echoes my wife’s experiences in France and a couple other European countries.) They were primarily at airports and city centers, so it’s probably a terrorist thing. But it was very apparent—sort of how I imagine Brits feel when they visit a country with regularly armed police.
- MagnumOpus 5y agoIt’s the bias of spending your life in unexciting places in the US, but visiting high-visibility terrorism targets (aka major tourist attractions, capitals, monuments and transport hubs) when abroad. Rest assured that the small town cops in Europe don’t patrol with MP5s, but that the marines at local US embassy (which is a high value target) occasionally do…
- barsonme 5y agoI've been to plenty of transport hubs, tourist attractions, capitols, etc. in the US, too. Or maybe I've been fortunate in that all the police in all the high-visibility places I've visited in the US don't patrol carrying long guns. (And the only capitol I visited in Europe was Austria.) > Rest assured that the small town cops in Europe don’t patrol with MP5s I understand this. And it wasn't part of my post :)
- BrandoElFollito 5y agoIt is a "terrorist thing" and one of the goals is to make them visible.