[user104658]

Originally Posted by arista

That Metal Bike Lock
he smashed it onto woman.
He was crazy.

Obviously a horrendous situation but UK police encounter assaults like this every day (unfortunately) and deal with them swiftly, efficiently, and often without the need for even deploying tasers etc. let alone firearms.

The only situation that should require the use of firearms is when the perpetrator is also similarly armed (guns or explosives). The police in the US use them as a default, and it's inevitable that there will be collateral damage like this. Especially when you consider that the firearms training required for a basic uniform cop/Sheriff's deputy etc. is the bare minimum.

Armed response units in the UK are trained to a very high standard and are extremely skilled and disciplined in their use of firearms. That's the only way it should be. In fact in the vast majority of armed response call outs, in the end no shots are actually fired.