I'm not a bit surprised. You whine about the use of the firearm in the US. While the Brits have emasculated themselves by locking up firearms, and the police sit relatively powerless (albeit gradually having come to the conclusion that yelling "halt" simply doesn't cut it any more, and a firearm is indeed a valuable law enforcement tool). Hence the old, but valid joke about UK law enforcement that rather than yelling "Halt, or I shall shoot," the Bobby need only shout out "Halt! Or I shall yell 'Halt" again!"
I am not quite sure where your rather twisted view of the British police comes from. I was a criminal defence solicitor (that's attorney to you guys) and my experience is that the police here are anything but powerless, as many of my clients discovered. As has already been said, there are many more ways of dealing with a situation that gormlessly pulling a gun.
Am I "whine(ing)" about use of firearms. Yes! You may think the levels of violent crime with firearms and accidental deaths involving firearms in the US are acceptable but I can tell you that they would not be tolerated for a second in Europe, so yes we would indeed whine. In the UK, where police are not routinely armed, the number of deaths using firearms as a weapon is small, though has risen in recent years and my own view is that the law has gone too far in the outright banning of handguns (other forms of firearm are not banned, but they are subject to stringent licensing and do have to be kept secure). Armed police are especially trained on the not unreasonable basis that using a firearm is a special skill for which not every moron in a uniform is suited for. Again, I don't have a problem with that either. You may be quite happy that people with an IQ barely in double figures can carry a gun as part of his work; I am not and neither would most people this side of the pond.