In London, the system is: - Normal police have no guns. - Specialist Firearms Command (SCO19) carry weapons (hand guns), but they are only called in when need

In London, the system is: - Normal police have no guns. - Specialist Firearms Command (SCO19) carry weapons (hand guns), but they are only called in when needed (like to arrest a known violent criminal). The have access to a rifle locked in their vehicle, but they don't routinely carry it around. - Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officers (CT-SFO) are the top tier of SCO19, trained for major crime, hostage taking and terrorism. This is who you are going to see walking around with submachine guns and assault rifles at the Olympics, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, etc. - The Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace (the people with the funny hats) also carry rifles with bayonets, but they aren't loaded. They are more likely to hit you with them or stab you with the bayonet if you mess with them. If you are tourist going to Buckingham Palace, Parliament or other super high risk sites, you are going to see CT-SFO officers out carrying assault rifles because they are positioned to respond in case of a terrorist attack. This is the same as visiting the White House or the Pentagon. You are going to see heavily armed guards on patrol at places like that. But in daily life outside of that, you are only interacting with unarmed police. So it's not that "it doesn't count." It's that guns are only involved when there's a strong reason to get them involved. If you call the police for a domestic dispute, no one is going to have a gun and no one is getting shot.