Historically, officers on night patrols in some London divisions were frequently armed with Webley revolvers. These were introduced following the murder of two officers in 1884, although individual officers were able to
choose whether to carry the weapons. Armed police were rare by the turn
of the century, and were retired formally in July 1936. However, after
the Battle of Stepney in 1911, Webley semi-automatics were issued to officers. From 1936, firearms could only be issued by a Sergeant with good reason, and only then to officers who had been trained in their usage.

The issue of routine arming in Great Britain was raised after the 1952 Derek Bentley case, in which a Constable was shot dead and a Sergeant severely wounded, and again after the 1966 Massacre of Braybrook Street, in which three London officers were killed. As a result, around 17% of officers in London became authorised to carry firearms. After the deaths of a number of
members of the public in the 1980s fired upon by police, control was
considerably tightened, many officers had their firearm authorisation
revoked, and training for the remainder was greatly improved. As of
2005, around 7% of officers in London are trained in the use of
firearms. Firearms are also only issued to an officer under strict
guidelines.^[7]

In order to allow armed officers to respond rapidly to an incident, most forces have patrolling Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs). ARVs were modelled on the Instant Response Cars introduced by the West Yorkshire Police in 1976, and were first introduced in London in 1991, with 132 armed deployments being made that year.

Although largely attributable to a significant increase in the use of imitation firearms and air weapons,^[8] the overall increase in firearms crime between 1998/99 and 2002/03^[8] (it has been decreasing since 2003/04, although use of imitations continued to rise)^[8] has kept this issue in the spotlight. In October 2000, Nottinghamshire Police introduced regular armed patrols to the St Ann's and Meadows estates in Nottingham, in response to fourteen drug-related shootings in the two areas in the previous year.^[9] Although the measure was not intended to be permanent, patrols were stepped up in the autumn of 2001 after further shootings,^[10] after which the firearms crime declined dramatically.^[11]

As of September 2004, all forces in England and Wales have access to tasers, but they may only be used by Authorised Firearms Officers (AFO's) and specially trained units. The Police Federation have since called for all officers to be issued with tasers, with some public support.^[12]

In 2010, following the serious injury of an unarmed officer in a knife attack, the chairman of the Police Memorial Trust, Michael Winner stated that he had put up memorials to 44 officers and that he
believed, "It is almost certain that at least 38 of those [Police
Officers] would be alive had they been armed".^[13] In response, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation Peter Smyth
said, "A lot of police officers don't want to be armed. We don't want a
call to arms, I don't think that's necessary."^[14]

Surveys by the Police Federation of England and Wales have continued to show police officers' considerable resistance to
routine arming. In the Federation's most recent (2006) Officer/Arming
survey, 82% of respondents were against the routine arming of police,
although 43% supported an increase in the number of officers trained and
authorised to use firearms.^[15]