Police have been surveyed about attitudes to firearms

The Police Federation is set to announce the findings of its survey of police officers on whether they want to carry guns.

The head of the Superintendents' Association, Chief Superintendent Rick Naylor, disputes the need for more armed officers, while Labour MP Tony Banks calls for a wider debate on the issue.

Chief Superintendent Rick Naylor:

There is a difference here between perception and reality.

Last year 14 serving officers lost their lives in the line of duty and nearly all of them were killed in road accidents. Not one was shot by a villain or shot in an accident.

We do have officers on the streets of England and Wales carrying firearms where chief officers think it is necessary to do so.

We've moved on light years in this country in the way we deal with firearms on the police side Rick Naylor

But that is done on a risk assessment process where there is a risk of gun crime in certain areas.

We also have 24-hour armed response vehicles. There are guns in police cars which can be taken to incidents very, very quickly.

It's a reflection on society in general that there is this fear of gun crime. It's something that's talked about regularly in the media and that may be a part of the reason.

But when we look at crime in its totality 5.5 million crimes were reported to police last year, but less than 10,000 involved firearms. So it is a small problem, but a significant one.

When we see the tragic events that happened in Birmingham at New Year and elsewhere, clearly it affects police officers who feel they may stumble on those sorts of incidents.

But they are well trained, they know that they have got very, very professional colleagues who are exceptionally well-trained, selected and equipped, who can deal with firearms in a very professional way.

We've moved on light years in this country in the way we deal with firearms on the police side.

We tend very seldom to fire in anger, we tend to resolve most incidents peacefully and that's the way I think the British public would like it to stay.

Labour MP Tony Banks says the UK should follow the example of armed police in European countries.

What I was concerned about was they way we seem to be moving more and more towards an armed police force.

Chief constables and the commission in London can make sure there are armed police available and indeed on patrol, and we are seeing more armed patrols in parts of London and in places like Nottingham and Manchester.

If I was a criminal I would probably feel less safe if I saw a police officer walking around Tony Banks

Obviously there are armed police seen routinely at airports, we're getting rapid response units called out more and more when there is an incident and even in Parliament we've got armed police officers all round the place.

Because there is a drift towards a more routine arming of police we ought to have a proper debate in the country, essentially inside parliament and amongst police officers to see what the strength of feeling is.

This is a matter essentially for those who we ask to protect us - the police - to have a clear opinion on.

There is a routine arming of police officers in Europe.

As we travel we see armed police officers, but we don't get frightened about that, the police obviously can handle that in those countries, civilisation as we know it hasn't broken down. So why are we wary?

If I was a criminal I would probably feel less safe if I saw a police officer walking around - even if they were armed or unarmed.

Police officers when they are called out don't know what they are going to confront on the other side. The chances are that the person will have a knife.

Will that person pull the knife if the person knows that the police officer is armed?