Norwegian police officers rarely use their firearms while on duty, according to statistics released by their government.
The Washington Post reported on the numbers, here are some of the graphs they put together to give one an idea of how infrequently Norwegian police threaten to use firearms, actually fire their firearms, injure people a result of shooting their firearms and kill people with their firearms.
(Photo: The Washington Post)
(Photo: The Washington Post)
(Photo: The Washington Post)
(Photo: The Washington Post)
The Washington Post went on to say, “There’s a simple reason for the lack of police shootings. While there are many hunters in the country and gun ownership is relatively common, Norway is one of a handful of European nations where police officers don’t usually carry guns.”
Hmmmm. Interesting. What’s also interesting is that by the Post’s count police in the U.S. have already shot and killed as many as 400 people this year. Yikes!
The implication here is that when officers are unarmed they are less likely to use firearms in the line of duty which results in fewer firearm-related incidents, injuries and deaths. Makes sense…
Of course, there is another side effect to having a force of unarmed police officers. That is, they’re are defenseless in the face of evil. Case in point, Norway mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik who killed 77 people, including an unarmed police officer, in shooting and bombing attacks in 2011.
There is a reason why police officers carry guns in the U.S.. To protect themselves. Personally, as a private citizen it doesn’t matter to me if police opt to put down their guns, but there is a tradeoff to this non-lethal posture that is hard to ignore. No guns = soft target. And it might be the reason why the Norwegian government is reconsidering its position, especially in the wake of heightened terror alerts.
Disarming the police in America is THE BEST IDEA EVER!!
The police should never be armed in America as most are incompetent with a firearm and are super quick on the draw and believe pointing a gun at someone is a acceptable act and shooting a citizen is “just part of the job”.
When you put on that shiny badge our taxes pay for you become government and THE LIFE OF THE GOVERNMENT IS VERY MUCH SECONDARY TO THE LIFE AND RIGHTS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS! you are there to serve! With your life if need be (that why you are paid and that ideal is where any respect for LEOs comes from) you are not paid to be a gang member and protect you buddy’s and gang at all costs.
Your average officer is a dunce and needs to be disarmed (not personally by during the course of duty’s) to…. and this really is the point….. PROTECT THE LIVES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS and to avoid at All costs (including the officers life) killing an American citizen.
As it stands now we pay a group of gangsters to harass us in our daily lives and kill us when they feel scared or are just stupid and then we give them immunity and a platform to denounce any negativity directed at any LEO or department.
If we can’t have accountability in OUR law enforcement we should at least make it harder for them to kill us.
Well let’s see, in one attack alone, 77 people died, including the unarmed police officer. Perhaps if he and members of the public were armed, the statistics would be one dead terrorist and 77 families would not have lost their loved ones.
Between 20 to 50 people on average are murdered in Norway since 1990. The highest rate of murder is from immigrants, which is code word for “Muslims”. On average, less than 1 homicide per year is committed with a firearm.
Disarming the police and the public is immoral. Look at formerly “Great” Britain where “people” armed with only knives can cause such havoc.
Disarm cops…but provide them with 100% free health care…and their families…for life.
And if killed on duty guarantee tax-free multi-million dollar payment to family…$5M ought to do it.
Job ending injury ? 100% retirement sounds about right.
They should get a pay check. That’s it. If you can’t do it find something else… like flipping burgers.
Actually, the headline’s inaccurate. Norway hasn’t made a good case for disarming police officers at all, and certainly not for disarming police officers in the USA. Norway has 5.2 million people in it. The USA has 330 million – over 63 times as many, so those 6 police-involved shootings in Norway would be equivalent to over 380 police-involved shootings in the USA.
The Washington Post wasn’t content, however, to try and compare apples and oranges – it played hide-and-seek with the real numbers. Police-involved shootings are almost entirely justifiable – they meet the test of “a police officer shooting someone who was placing the officer or an innocent third party in reasonable fear of grievous bodily harm or death”. The #blacklivesmatter narrative, which the Washington Post and other slanted news sources have adopted, is that no police shootings are ever justifiable. Michael Brown could tune a police officer up and try to take his pistol away from him, and the riot that ensued from his death was part of what Barack Obama called “an understandable reaction”.
A headline here which treats that Washington Post article’s conclusions at face value is puzzling. Fortunately, the article itself does deal with realities, not Washington Post slant.
The staggering numbers of AMERICAN CITIZENS KILLED BY POLICE make a damn good case for disarming the police in America. They can’t handle the responsibility.
My first thought was the size and population of Norway and the US! It seems that the average person in the US doesn’t know enough geography to realize that most other countries are no larger than 3-4 states in the US. There are exceptions — China and Russia for example, but only a few are anywhere near the size and population of the US, and only Russia is considered European. Statistics can be misleading…
My people are from Norway. My relatives still live in Norway. Even though I was born in America I still consider myself Norwegian first.
My Mother went to visit our relatives in the mid 1970’s and she told me that there were 6 violent crimes in Oslo in the year before she visited. Like I told her those crimes were probably a Norwegian and a Swede sitting at a bar arguing about which was dumber a Swede or a Norwegian so a fight happened, making if one of 6 violent crimes in that year.
A few years later my aunt wrote to Mom and told her that the gods of the new world order forced Norway to take refugees from somewhere in the area of India-Sri Lanka I think. And the unlocked homes in Norway were immediately looted and ancient priceless artifacts from even pre-Viking days were stolen. Everyone my aunt knew had to put locks on their doors because life was no longer safe in Norway. She said that! But if you consider that there was virtually zero crime up until then, some crime must have seemed like a tidal wave of crime. But that does make a point doesn’t it. Norwegians could live crime free but when 3rd world people were introduced to Norway the country changed over night.
Perhaps you should remove yourself (and family if any) to Norway.
Norway isn’t the USA. No Chicago in that country.
It should also be taken into account that the Norway police aren’t facing the same type of criminal and threat that the American police are. I haven’t heard of Norwegian criminals walking behind unsuspecting police officers and shooting them as they sit in their car. American officers have been shot as they stand in front of their precint awaiting shift change. Lets keep things honest.
Norway’s police departments don’t have the same “clientele” to deal with as America .
Cops shoot a lot of ‘people’ here because we have a lot of ‘people’ here that NEED shooting.
You sir are one of the people that “need shooting” you are scum.
How can you possibly compare Norway to the US? Get real! The geographic location between these two countries has a lot to do with the problem of illegal immigration. Outside the fact that Norway\’s main problem may be the infiltration of Radical Muslims. They don\’t have the problem of massive of massive illegal immigration by third world countries, promoted by a government who wants to make us a Socialistic Dictatorship! Disarming our country will not make our country like Norway! No Way .
How can you possibly compare Norway to the US? Get real! The geographic location between these two countries has a lot to do with the problem of illegal immigration. Outside the fact that Norway’s main problem may be the infiltration of Radical Muslims. They don’t have the problem of massive of massive illegal immigration by third world countries, promoted by a government who wants to make us a Socialistic Dictatorship! Disarming our country will not make our country like Norway! No Way .
How can you possibly compare Norway to the US? Get real! The geographic location between these two countries has a lot to do with the problem of illegal immigration. Outside the fact that Norway’s main problem may be the infiltration of Radical Muslims. They don’t have the problem of massive of massive illegal immigration by third world countries, promoted by a government who wants to make us a Socialistic Dictatorship! Disarming our country will not make our country like Norway! No Way .
How can you possibly compare Norway to the US? Get real! The geographic location between these two countries has a lot to do with the problem of illegal immigration. Outside the fact that Norway’s main problem may be the infiltration of Radical Muslims. They don’t have the problem of massive of massive illegal immigration by third world countries, promoted by a government who wants to make us a Socialistic Dictatorship! Disarming our country will not make our country like Norway! No Way .
The problem with trying to compare USA to any other country is that we are a very diverse country w/numerous subcultures while Japan, Switzerland, Norway, etc, are generally uni-cultural (except for the growing subculture of muslims in many european countries). Many of our subcultures, the “black community”, the latino “community”–really an amalgam of dozens of spanish-speaking groups who generally dislike and distrust each other–have cultures that put a premium on bad behavior: machismo, drug use, drinking, fighting and the serial production of illegitimate children. All these factors contribute to a high incidence of crime within the community–it is a well-known fact that the majority of black criminals prey on black victims. Until the day–far away Im sure–that these subcultures accept middleclass america’s values–respect for self, respect for others, respect for law, nonviolent resolution of disputes, etc–there will always be crime in America and the majority will be committed by members of these subcultures. It is a fact that most liberals refuse to acknowledge, most politicians dont want to accept (particularly demoncraps like Shitcago PD Chief MacCarthy and Shitcago Mayor Rahm the Asshole, rich nazi Michael Bloomburg, etc) and members of those communities reject because it takes away their “whity is oppressing us” ranting and lying copouts.
Damn good comment.
The problem with trying to compare USA to any other country is that we are a very diverse country w/numerous subcultures while Japan, Switzerland, Norway, etc, are generally uni-cultural (except for the growing subculture of muslims in many european countries). Many of our subcultures, the “black community”, the latino “community”–really an amalgam of dozens of spanish-speaking groups who generally dislike and distrust each other–have cultures that put a premium on bad behavior: machismo, drug use, drinking, fighting and the serial production of illegitimate children. All these factors contribute to a high incidence of crime within the community–it is a well-known fact that the majority of black criminals prey on black victims. Until the day–far away Im sure–that these subcultures accept middleclass america’s values–respect for self, respect for others, respect for law, nonviolent resolution of disputes, etc–there will always be crime in America and the majority will be committed by members of these subcultures. It is a fact that most liberals refuse to acknowledge, most politicians dont want to accept (particularly demoncraps like Shitcago PD Chief MacCarthy and Shitcago Mayor Rahm the Asshole, rich nazi Michael Bloomburg, etc) and members of those communities reject because it takes away their “whity is oppressing us” ranting and lying copouts.
Buying into the premise is flawed. Comparing the U.S. to Norway is utterly ridiculous. There are about 5 million people in Norway, a little larger than the population of the San Francisco area. The entire land mass of Norway is about 148k square miles, about the size of Montana. Nearly 80% of the population lives in the 175 square mile region of Oslo.
If disarming the Norwegian police is what Norwegians think works best for them, that’s great. To claim their law enforcement policies are germane to the challenges of law enforcement in our society is simply pushing fantasy to the masses.
Buying into the premise is flawed. Comparing the U.S. to Norway is utterly ridiculous. There are about 5 million people in Norway, a little larger than the population of the San Francisco area. The entire land mass of Norway is about 148k square miles, about the size of Montana. Nearly 80% of the population lives in the 175 square mile region of Oslo.
If disarming the Norwegian police is what Norwegians think works best for them, that’s great. To claim their law enforcement policies are germane to the challenges of law enforcement in our society is simply pushing fantasy to the masses.
Buying into the premise is flawed. Comparing the U.S. to Norway is utterly ridiculous. There are about 5 million people in Norway, a little larger than the population of the San Francisco area. The entire land mass of Norway is about 148k square miles, about the size of Montana. Nearly 80% of the population lives in the 175 square mile region of Oslo.
If disarming the Norwegian police is what Norwegians think works best for them, that’s great. To claim their law enforcement policies are germane to the challenges of law enforcement in our society is simply pushing fantasy to the masses.
Sounds like Norwegian cops are ‘doin it right’. Carrying their weapon has had the deterrence effect intended. Take that tool away and watch the incidents of attacks on police skyrocket. Britain has instituted the non armed Bobbie…with awful consequences. This need not be ‘rocket science’.
Check the FBI crime statistics and you will see that if only Whites were counted there would be a murder rate equal to Belgium. We know where the problem is but we refuse to face it.
And the school shootings/massacres make an even stronger case for HOME SCHOOLING. If the kids were being home schooled, none of those tragedy’s would have happened.
The total population is less than the State of MN. Nice place, Nice People. They mind their own business. Cost of Living is outrageous. Bottle of Water was almost $4 but that was at end of 2008- not sure of exchange rate now- when I went there to Hunt Elg/Moose. You can own any firearm you want as long as the Police approve it. Handguns are much harder to get approved. Ammo ownership is limited and recorded. No way should an officer be unarmed even if it to put a road wounded game animal or livestock out of misery.
French police are disarmed. How did that work out for Charlie Hebdo?
Norway just started deporting muslims in record numbers and crime went down 31%. Guess they finally got tired of their bullshit.
Citation needed, please.
There would be no way that I would be a cop and not carry a gun. Cops are targets to a lot of psychos.
So who isn’t? Maybe someone who never leaves the house/farm/ranch/apartment. You & I are far more liable to be accosted by a lunatic if we aren’t in uniform since the uniform represents authority. Cops have stun guns/tasers, billy clubs/asps, body armor, knives, CS/pepper spray, multiple units for backup, radios, helicopters…
Yup. But cops in America are all victims now and need to be coddle and protected..
Maybe they should stop being scum bag gangsters and killing Americans without just reason and then lying about it in courts and on tv to protect the gang (department) over the community….
maybe they should do something to earn respect instead of just demanding it with guns drawn…