Nothing ridiculous about it.
All UK forces have specialist armed police officers they can and do mobilize if needed.
However, most officers are not armed and the police themselves don’t want to be routinely armed.
UK policing is by consent, calling the police to attend domestic disturbances, neighborhood disputes and cops performing traffic stops or any number of routine police interactions with the general public do not, as in some parts of the world, ever end with innocent members of the public being gunned down by a cop enforcing their authority with a gun.
https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/life-insurance/what-are-the-uks-most-dangerous-jobs/#:~:text=Police officer%3A with 13 deaths,in the police was risky