When I was a child, I was never afraid of an ass whupping...

Ok, so as an opening title, that's not strictly speaking true. I was afraid of getting my arse kicked by the playground bully, and I hated fighting, but that was just how it went. If you got in a fight, you stood up and defended yourself. I was tried of my older sister emasculating me every day and sorting out my troubles with bullying kids. So I took up martial arts and learnt how to fight as well as excellent ways to avoid such confrontations... I didn't then care that people would call me a coward from walking away from a fight, because I knew better.

But the fact remains... you stood your ground and threw punches, even if they were terrible and were going to make no difference.

I have read an article on the Telegraph online

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/06/nguns106.xml).

I cannot even begin to imagine what sort of lives these children and teenagers are living; I grew up in the suburbs of a quiet midlands town where nothing ever happened officially ever. At the time of course, it felt like a war zone, but everyone feels like that to some extent while growing up, and people who say that their teenage years were not some sort of battleground are just plain lying; even if the struggle is within yourself, it's still a struggle. But every problem could be solved by chucking a few fists about and at the very worst, someones mum going around to see someone else's mum.

The knowledge that it's only a matter of time before a police officer in a major conurbation will have to shoot a child wielding a weapon is one that makes me immensely sad. I could go on about the declining state of youth, the lack of strong father figures (to the point where David Beckham is seriously called a good role model to children), where did the parents go wrong, etc etc... There's no point. Everyone in the world has heard these arguments ad nauseaem, and if we're totally fair, it's no big surprise. One only has to look at the Favela's in Brazil to know that we don't have it that bad.

It must be heart wrenching to be an armed police officer in this country though; You are armed because you live in an area that is armed, and the violence has escalated to the point where criminals will no longer listen to the stern words of a police officer, or even his night stick. All they will listen to is the barrel of the weapon pointed in their face.

It must be heart wrenching going to work and wondering if today is the day you shoot a twelve year old child.

It must be heart wrenching being those children, who already at such a young age have gotten to the point where they feel like there is no other answer than to pull the trigger.