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What you're saying is correct, but just to be pedantic: police in Northern Ireland are armed at all times, and are allowed to be armed even while off duty.
Sure, I'm from NI so aware of that. It's a unique situation though and I thought it best to leave out rather than confuse my point that there are police forces that work without firearms.
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The US has a tendency to export its bad ideas along with its good ones, so readers elsewhere might still have reason to be concerned about what happens there. These weapons are already used by some police in other places, like in Canada where a protesting student was seriously injured [1]. French police used flash bangs in the recent hostage situation in a grocery store [2]. [1]: http://rabble.ca/news/2012/03/police-…
Using them in a raid against a terrorist who had taken hostages is completely reasonable. Throwing them into a crowd of people is not. Like any dangerous tool, if you use it carelessly bad things will happen.