Barcelona deputy mayor Laia Bonet has asked Junts to restore support for allowing Guàrdia Urbana officers to carry Tasers, according to an interview reported by betevé. The issue matters in Barcelona because any change would affect how local officers respond to violent incidents, mental health crises and high-risk interventions.
For residents, the immediate consequence is political rather than operational: there is no new approval yet, but the debate could shape future council votes on police equipment and use-of-force rules. Readers following the issue can track related coverage on our news page.
What Bonet said
Bonet, whose role at Barcelona City Council is listed on the official municipal organisation chart, said Tasers are already used by other local police forces and by the Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's regional police. Barcelona's Guàrdia Urbana does not currently carry them, according to the reporting by betevé.
"It is a working tool that other local police forces and the Mossos d'Esquadra have," Bonet said, as reported by betevé. Her comments reopen a politically sensitive question at City Hall, where any move to equip officers with Tasers would need political backing.
Why the rules matter
The Guàrdia Urbana is Barcelona's municipal police service. It handles traffic, public order support, local enforcement and joint operations with other forces, according to the official Guàrdia Urbana website. That means any decision on Tasers would affect frontline policing in the city, not just a symbolic debate at the council.
The Catalan interior department approved a protocol for local police forces' use of electric stun guns in 2018, according to the department's official announcement. The framework was intended to regulate training, handling and deployment by local forces across Catalonia, which places the Barcelona debate within an existing legal and operational framework.
What happens next
Support for Tasers is not universal. A mental health collective has published a position paper opposing Barcelona City Council's purchase of the devices, arguing that they raise risks in interventions involving people in distress or crisis. The wider discussion also reaches beyond Barcelona, with the Parliament of Catalonia having debated electric stun guns in relation to the Mossos d'Esquadra, according to the parliamentary bulletin cited in the source material.
No new council approval was announced in the source material. The next step is political, if Junts changes its position, the proposal could move back into the council debate, while readers can follow any update through Barcelona City Council and the Guàrdia Urbana's official channels.
