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.
That may be your problem. In the US, we tend to hire capable police, and you may be confused by a local, inferior product.
Listen to what John King has to say about the whole "held at gunpoint" thing.
The Kings are idiots. Martha could use a good tazering.
As far as gun control goes, it's never been shown to work. One should be highly suspicious of a government that takes away one's weapons. Hitler did that. Many despots and dictators have done that. The brits don't particularly like their citizenry to have firearms because the subjects don't necessarily remain subject any more. It was thanks to private firearms ownership, in fact, that the US became a nation, rather than subject colonies of the crown.
When citizens were required to turn in their weapons in Australia not long ago, violent crime rose substantially. Take away the weapons, and the criminals who were never following the law, still retain theirs. Taking away weapons disarms the good guys. In the case of Australia (were I used to live), robbery increased 44%, and the homicide rate in Victoria alone increased 300 percent. Go figure.
In the US, firearms are used 2.5 million times a year in self defense. Firearms are used 80 times more often to protect innocent lives, than to take them. The issuance of concealed carry permits has been proven in all cases to reduce crime rates substantially, and in every case where gun control is instituted, in the US or abroad, crime increases. Take away firearms from law abiding citizens, then the people who are not law abiding will have firearms.
For those whining about firearms in the US, you should know that twice as many children die from playing football, as from firearms, each year. In the 1990's, the number of firearms increased in the US by 40 million, yet the murder rate decreased by 40%.
But I'm telling this to the folks that freed the Lockerbie bomber. Excellent work.