Talking to NRK, Anundsen says Norway should compromise the luxury of unarmed police.
Anundsen stressed that the government respects the general oppostiion in the parliement against general armament but he calls the politicians not to close their eyes to the real world.
Just hours before the terrorist attacks in Paris, the Police Directorate alerted that they will disarm the police this week. The following day they published the following conclusion:
Police Directorate will continuously assess the armament as a new threat assessment exists. Currently there is no new threat assessment to indicate that we should make changes related to our decision that the temporary arming of the police should cease.
Anundsen says to NRK that the temporary armament has always been rooted in scientific advice. It is thus unlikely that he as minister overrides Police Directorate’s decision on this matter.
He also adds that both events in Paris and other event over time show that they must restart the discussion of general armament.
On the other hand, Centre Party (Sp) politician Jenny Klinge accuses Anundsen of using terrorist attacks in Paris as an argument for armament in Norway.
– It is important not to use these kinds of tragedies as a lever to promote certain views. There I suspect FRP does it in this context, she says to NRK.
