Chinese police are seeking broad increases in their mandate to use firearms while on duty, opening a national debate on gun laws in a country where civilian ownership is forbidden.
The change in regulations governing police behaviour comes amid enduring public outrage over the death in police custody of Beijing university graduate Lei Yang last May, an incident that revealed to the urban middle classes the police violence normally reserved for migrant workers or the poor. In December, officials decided not to prosecute the five officers responsible.
“The limits on police’s right to open fire needs public discussion,” the liberal Beijing News said in an editorial this month republished by state news agency Xinhua.