This week's riots in Britain, which have spread from the north
London neighborhood of Tottenham to the cities of Birmingham,
Liverpool, and Manchester, were sparked by the Aug. 4 shooting
by police of a 29-year old London man. The victim, Mark Duggan,
was carrying a weapon, though tests show he did not fire it. But
Britain has long been well known for having an unarmed police
force. Is that still the case? Yes, but there are an increasing
number of exceptions. The unarmed bobby on the beat is an image
as quintessentially British as Big Ben or the Beatles and --
with the exception of Northern Ireland, where police have been
routinely armed for years -- the vast majority of officers,
including Scotland Yard, still make do with nonlethal weapons
like batons, pepper spray, and gruff admonishments. This hasn't
always been the case. London police were issued revolvers in
1884 following the murder of two officers, though it wasn't
mandatory: They could choose whether or not to carry them. The
weapons were formally r