Scottish police not exactly trigger happy

A recent article in The Scotsman states that across Scotland, police have fired handguns 34 times in the last seven years. According to WikiTravel, Scotland has a population of just over 5 million.

I would be surprised to learn that the number of times Monroe, LA police have fired their guns in the last seven years is way over that, and Monroe has 1% of Scotland's population.

Here's the article: http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1414012006

Interestingly, a Member of Scottish Parliament wants an inquiry into why the numbers are so patchy (i.e. so high in Central Scotland, where Glasgow and Edinburgh are located). Gee, could it be because of... population density? And 34 incidents is a pretty low number to get any meaningful statistics out of.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect is the number of police in Scotland with guns. Of course, my understanding is that the vast majority of British police are still unarmed.