A new poll from Maskína asked Icelanders from around the country how they felt about police openly carrying firearms at large public gatherings. In total, 47% said they were rather or very supportive of the idea, while 34% said they were rather or very against it.
While this is being reported as “most Icelanders support cops carrying guns”, a closer look at the demographics tells a different story.
At the time of this writing, it is actually only Reykjavík area police who are given the mandate to openly carry guns at public gatherings. With this in mind, it is notable that a larger share of Reykjavík area Icelanders are against cops with guns than are for it: 44% are opposed to the idea, while only 37% support it.
In fact, Reykjavík area Icelanders were the only ones who showed greater opposition to police carrying firearms than support.
As reported, sociologists, psychologists, and even members of the Icelandic police force themselves have all expressed doubts that police openly carrying weapons will make the country any safer. Reykjavík area police have also not solely confined openly carrying weapons to large public gatherings, despite assurances from Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson that this would be the case.
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