[Dylan16807]

So why specify guns?

Especially when they're so rarely used in situations like this.

[lazide]

Used? Sure. You don’t need to use it when everyone knows what will happen. The presence is enough 99% of the time.

Or are you saying cops don’t have real pistols in their holsters, and agents just pretend to be armed on those raids?

[Dylan16807]

A white collar raid doesn't need to bring guns.

[lazide]

And yet they usually do.

[smegger001]

because most governments quit using swords long enough ago that guns are now the symbol representing violent force.

[alvah]

It’s a widely-used aphorism for governments’ monopoly on violence, which, as others have pointed out, is ultimately how governments get people to do things they otherwise wouldn’t do.