Technically it was two.

The one heat was based on in California and the college tower sniper a few years later.

Are you sure they were cops? We've had soldiers patrolling on and off since the terrorist attacks, and I don't think French cops carry anything other than handguns during their normal shift.

I went to London which now feels like over two decades ago and was told they only have batons... Like 7 out of 10 cops had MP5s strapped casually to the side of them. Looking back I am like maybe 9/11 response? But that's still like a couple years after. I don't know, coming from the US I thought that was crazy. Some of our cops have shotguns usually, and in some towns, rifles in their car, and they are almost never used.

Yeah, those were special forces (was it after those terrorist attacks?).

I don't know of any country in Europe where caps would keep rifles or shotguns in cars.

Paris, like many big European cities, is a major terrorist target. It's been hit numerous times, so they're a bit on edge there. When the alert level is high, you'll see military patrols as well. Although the effectiveness of those is dubious.