Does This Qualify as Martial Law?

Armed officers placed on routine foot patrol for first time - Telegraph [*** Please note: I fixed the quote ***] This isn't arming the cops on the beat - like we do in the US. This is sending in heavily armed patrols. Heavily. Armed.

A hand-picked team from CO19, the Metropolitan Police's elite firearms unit, will walk the beat in gun crime hotspots where armed gangs have turned entire estates into "no go" zones.

Local politicians and anti-gun campaigners have reacted with anger at the news that the officers will carry Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns – capable of firing up to 800 rounds-per-minute – and Glock semi-automatic pistols.

From one extreme to the other?

Unarmed cops never made much sense to me. Cops with military-grade weapons also doesn't make much sense to me. Cops with machine guns going on foot patrols in the UK sounds like something out of a B movie.