system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How is the British police force able to operate effectively when most of its officers don't carry guns?

I just learned about this today, and it just seems kind of unbelievable from my perspective (I live in the US fyi).
gpt
The vast majority of police interactions in the U.S. are extraordinarily far from requiring a gun.  When you call the cop because you've had a car accident, when you call the cop because you come home and you TV has been stolen, when someone has committed fraud, when someone has evaded taxes, when someone fails to pay all their traffic fines, when someone is speeding and so on and so forth.  A gun is a silly thing to introduce into the vast majority of policing situations.  We have a view of police work that it's all foot chases with armed criminals hell bent on killing everyone around them.  Doesn't really work like that.