Pete wrote:I wonder what psychological assessment the police and armed forces go through before gaining access to firearms................anyone know?
Pete
This is my bête noir and I have challenged the College of Policing on it several times and got absolutely nowhere!
The CoP did inform me that Armed Policing is governed by the National Firearms Curriculum and entry requirements which include vetting are part of this. They refuse to allow the general public access to this document for operational & security reasons, which in fairness I do understand to a degree as it would likely include tactics etc... and it is only right and proper that this information should be restricted.
However I do take issue with the blanket approach to lumping everything into a restricted category. I see no reason why the general public shouldn't know to what standards an armed police officer is held in terms of mental health. They are forever telling us to what level they can get to at the bleep test! Whats the difference between the physical suitability of a candidate and their mental suitability.
Why aren't we allowed to know to what level of marksmanship an AFO must achieve to be considered competent? Anecdotally I'm told the standard is lower than you might think due to lack of resources for training that the average AFO receives. Granted SFO's are different, but by how much and would that really matter if, as unlikely as it is, you were unlucky enough to end up on his two way range?
Armed policing is becoming normalised but we are not being given answers to legitimate questions. It is sobering to think there are more individuals with semi-automatic firearms on our streets than any other time in history and yet the only difference between them & us is a uniform. If guns really are the problem then what difference does a uniform make?
off in the opening couple of minutes! 
