HAD to chuckle when I read the article Black And Blue (Press, September 7).

It's now clear why our police have only a few specialist firearms units. Can you imagine the carnage if the carrying of sidearms was introduced in North Yorkshire?

If the recent accident rate figures were replicated in a force fully equipped with firearms we would run out of officers within a week.

The scale of accidental wounding would require that most prison cells be converted into a Triage Unit to cope; the Blood Transfusion Service would surely go under!

Philip Atkinson, Danum Road, Fulford, York.