On the militarization of police
Chief Joel F. Shults says we need militarized police so that the military doesn’t start responding to major threats. And to prevent the military from getting too powerful. Uhm, OK. So, I can buy a tank and a machine gun too for the same reason?
August 19th, 2013 at 9:17 pm
You certainly CAN buy tanks and machineguns, however you’ll have to go through some fairly annoying paperwork in order to own them.
I’m not sure what the BATFE’s position is on ammo for tank main cannons is, but they may have decided that each individual round constitutes a “destructive device.”
August 19th, 2013 at 9:19 pm
I want new tanks and new machine guns.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:34 pm
The total lack of insight into the problem pretty much speaks to the problem itself. No amount of militarization is beyond justification with that mindset. It’s simple and misguided, but it’s the view that predominates within law enforcement.
“officer safety” has been elevated to a place it has never been before and was never intended to be. Any shred of risk is now used to justify any level of militarization, no matter the potential risk to the citizens they are employed to protect, constitutional concerns, community relations, etc….
They’ve been conditioned to respond to any challenge to their tactics or authority with escalation and intimidation. Up until this point they have gotten away with it. They are incapable of introspection, all they know is escalation. They aren’t going to stop. This article is evidence of their delusions on the issue. They don’t police themselves, time for us to police them. First step is to denounce “officer safety” as a goal above and beyond all other concerns. If they aren’t willing to assume some risk, they should find another line of work and stop being so gutless.
#protectandserve
August 19th, 2013 at 11:59 pm
“to prevent the military from becoming too powerful”? That’s a laugh. I recall hearing something many years ago to the reverse, to wit: the restoration of liberty will begin when we bring the troops home — and set them on the police.
August 20th, 2013 at 10:44 am
HSR47 — Each HE, HEAT, or WP round for a tank gun is a seperate Destructive Device, but I believe that purely kinetic projectiles such as APFSDS are not. I also seem to recall a blanket ban on DU projectiles, but that might merely be for “handgun” projectiles under the “Armor Piercing” (AKA “Cop Killer”) ban.
August 20th, 2013 at 10:51 pm
Militarized police?
No no no… militarized civilians.
For it is the civilians that will stop the Army AND Police from becoming the arm of tyranny.
Nazi Germany had both military and police under their thumbs to commit atrocities at will.