House Democrat Readies Bill To Demilitarize Local Police

[jon_berzerk]

Disarm the police, aren't these the same people you left wing assholes wanted to be the only ones to have guns? Get rid of the second and only arm government and military is your call for gun control right?

aren't these the same people you left wing assholes wanted to be the only ones to have guns?

yes

 

[Sallow]

Cops don't want to get shot, so they get armored vehicles.
Cops don't want to miss if they shoot back, so they use 5.56 rifles instead of pistols or shotguns.
Cops don't want to get hit in the head with rocks or bottles, so they wear a helmet.

Maybe I'm missing the point, but what the fuck does it matter?

If people would stop shooting at police, stop burning down gas stations, stop looting car rim stores, stop throwing maltov cocktails......well, maybe cops wouldn't feel the need to mimic the military.

Because the military is GREAT at protecting themselves from bullets, and being very accurate with the ones they shoot back. So can you blame the police for wanting to get the BEST protection possible and best defense capabilities as well?

This was Ferguson. A town of 20K people.

Cops don't need assault rifles and military vehicles to manage protests, a constitutionally protected right.

 

[007]

Man how anyone can belong to the Democrat party is beyond me

one wants martial law and now one want to leave our police with what, squirt guns?

or we can just call them, bobbies

don't think they start with our police they will STOP THERE ....you citizens will be next

everytime you post someone becomes a democrat.

Well then it evens out, because every time you post, someone becomes a republican.

 

[Stephanie]

Man how anyone can belong to the Democrat party is beyond me

one wants martial law and now one want to leave our police with what, squirt guns?

or we can just call them, bobbies

don't think they start with our police they will STOP THERE ....you citizens will be next

everytime you post someone becomes a democrat.

Well then it evens out, because every time you post, someone becomes a republican.

I think it would drive five to join Republican..

 

[Spoonman]

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) announced Thursday that he plans to file legislation aimed at stemming the militarization of local police -- something on full display this week in Ferguson, Missouri, where officers in riot gear have been showering largely peaceful protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets.

In a letter to his Democratic colleagues, Johnson asked for support for his bill, the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act. The measure would rein in a Defense Department program that provides Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, M16 assault rifles and other surplus military equipment to local law enforcement, free of charge.

"Our main streets should be a place for business, families, and relaxation, not tanks and M16s," Johnson says in his letter. "Our local police are quickly beginning to resemble paramilitary forces. This bill will end the free transfers of certain aggressive military equipment to local law enforcement and ensure that all equipment can be accounted for."

Johnson will file his legislation in September. His office said he has been working on it for months but decided to expedite it in light of this week's events in Ferguson. Protests began there Saturday after a police officer killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager who was walking down the street.

"Before another small town's police force gets a $700,000 gift from the Defense Department that it can't maintain or manage, it behooves us to rein in the Pentagon's 1033 program and revisit the merits of a militarized America," reads his letter to colleagues. "I hope we can work together on this important issue."

The Georgia Democrat isn't the only lawmaker who wants to scale back local police forces' access to military weapons. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said Thursday that it's "time to demilitarize this situation" in Ferguson, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wrote a Thursday op-ed titled, "We Must Demilitarize The Police."

House Democrat Readies Bill To Demilitarize Local Police

I couldn't agree more! Local police forces must be demilitarized. Their role is to protect and serve - not bully and intimidate.

what really makes me laugh my ass off is a year ago when libs were all jacked up on their gun bans, their argument was citizens do not need guns. we should rely on the police who are well trained and know how to handle these situations. sure glad we never listen to libs

 

[nodoginnafight]

Our police forces need to be at least as well armed as the criminals.

 

[martybegan]

Our police forces need to be at least as well armed as the criminals.

and the rest of us don't?

 

[FA_Q2]

Cops don't want to get shot, so they get armored vehicles.
Cops don't want to miss if they shoot back, so they use 5.56 rifles instead of pistols or shotguns.
Cops don't want to get hit in the head with rocks or bottles, so they wear a helmet.

Maybe I'm missing the point, but what the fuck does it matter?

If people would stop shooting at police, stop burning down gas stations, stop looting car rim stores, stop throwing maltov cocktails......well, maybe cops wouldn't feel the need to mimic the military.

Because the military is GREAT at protecting themselves from bullets, and being very accurate with the ones they shoot back. So can you blame the police for wanting to get the BEST protection possible and best defense capabilities as well?

Local police forces have gotten progressively out of hand. Instead of friendly neighborhood cops trying to protect and serve - they've become tough guys (militant). It's time to reverse the trend.

As a former Atlanta Police officer, 8 years, in Zone 3 (South Atlanta) let me just say.......YOU go try to be the "friendly neighborhood cop" like Andy Griffith.

You go get spit on. You get sucker punched. You have your family threatened, and have the felon show up on your front lawn; You go out to dinner with your wife and have a felon recognize you; You GET SHOT AT, or worse, get hit.

Go do the job for a fucking month, and tell me how that Andy Griffith bullshit works out.


Hell yes they've become tough guys. They always have been. They tried the "friendly neighborhood police officer" who hugs babies and gives out candy. How did society react? With all the above bullshit I listed. SO now they aren't playing that game anymore.

Don't like it? DONT commit crimes; If cops tell you do stop doing something, just stop doing it. Don't try to talk back and resist or any of that shit. Just follow the rules. This whole mess started because some smart ass kids walking in the middle of the road talked back and didn't want to get out of the road (which is illegal). A tragedy occurred, hell, maybe even a crime because they cop may have committed murder.

But regardless, a stupid act started it.

America isn't Mayberry anymore.

Ya, screw rights, those are not important. Just obey government or they might kill you.


And you don't understand why this is a problem?

 

[FA_Q2]

Our police forces need to be at least as well armed as the criminals.

And the police are getting MRAPS. This is what an MRAP looks like:

Tell me, can you cite where criminals use MRAPS in any sort or regularity? Can you cite when such a vehicle has ever been effectively used by a criminal?


Then perhaps you can explain why, exactly, the police need a vehicle that is reenforced against landmines. Perhaps because of all those landmines that the criminals are using like that time when.... or that time.... well....

 

[FA_Q2]

Cops don't want to get shot, so they get armored vehicles.
Cops don't want to miss if they shoot back, so they use 5.56 rifles instead of pistols or shotguns.
Cops don't want to get hit in the head with rocks or bottles, so they wear a helmet.

Maybe I'm missing the point, but what the fuck does it matter?

If people would stop shooting at police, stop burning down gas stations, stop looting car rim stores, stop throwing maltov cocktails......well, maybe cops wouldn't feel the need to mimic the military.

Because the military is GREAT at protecting themselves from bullets, and being very accurate with the ones they shoot back. So can you blame the police for wanting to get the BEST protection possible and best defense capabilities as well?

Local police forces have gotten progressively out of hand. Instead of friendly neighborhood cops trying to protect and serve - they've become tough guys (militant). It's time to reverse the trend.

I too think there is a problem but it's not as simple as you paint it.

If you want policing to go back to the way it was during the Leave it to Beaver era then you need to return America's population back to the standard of that era. Wally and Beaver never had to hand over their lunch money to some tatted up MS-13 gang members.

So, towns and municipalities where there is low crime, high levels of human capital, and high levels of community involvement certainly can return to the "cops trying to protect and serve" model you advocate.

However, in multicultural hellholes, where there is a lot of crime, where police are targeted, where things are going to hell in a handbasket, the "cops trying to protect and serve" model just won't work. In these towns the police need to show who is boss, because if the boss is not law and order then we get the criminals taking over the city, see the Mexican cartels.

No, they don't. Never do the police need to 'show who is boss.' Who is boss is quite clear - WE ARE as the citizens and controllers of our government. Criminals need to be dealt with but that does not, has never and NEVER WILL include military type hardware or actions. The military has one purpose - to kill the enemy. It has no relation with a police force in any shape of form. When the government uses police like military it should be a HUGE wake up call that the government now sees its populous as AN ENEMY.

If nothing else, that should bother all of us.

What will never cease to amaze me is the inherent reflux of the right to somehow trust and support the police all the while stating that they government is inefficient, ineffective and will invade your rights. The police are the ultimate expression of the government and need to be watched that m7uch closer. While they NEED the equipment to deal with criminals they are NOT an agency that should have access or use military gear. There is a reason that the military does not act as a police force - they are absolute shit at it. They excel EXTREMELY well at subjugation though....

 

[FA_Q2]

It isn't one-size-fits-all. Intelligent people know when and where SWAT tactics are called for.

When rioters are burning down gas stations, smashing windows and looting business, throwing maltov cocktails and pulling guns on cops..........

Yeah, that's SWAT time.

No, that's National Guard time.

No. There is nothing worse than trying to use a military force as a police force. The training, equipment, job and entire purpose of the 2 agencies are completely at odds. Want to destroy something and control an entire populous - call up the military. Want to protect the safety and rights of your citizens - those are the FIRST things that a military sacrifices.

 

[nodoginnafight]

Our police forces need to be at least as well armed as the criminals.

and the rest of us don't?

The second amendment protects the right of an individual to own guns.

 

[martybegan]

Our police forces need to be at least as well armed as the criminals.

and the rest of us don't?

The second amendment protects the right of an individual to own guns.

In theory it should in practice police forces and various local governments have been trying to undermine that for decades, NYC case in point.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Hank "Guam is going to tip over" Johnson... that Hank Johnson?

More proof (as if we needed more) that lefties are insane.

 

[nodoginnafight]

"... they NEED the equipment to deal with criminals they are NOT an agency that should have access or use military gear..."

But the criminals have "military gear."

I do not and will never support sending our police officers out there with a severe disadvantage.

 

[martybegan]

"... they NEED the equipment to deal with criminals they are NOT an agency that should have access or use military gear..."

But the criminals have "military gear."

Most crimes are committed with handguns, by unarmored criminals. You can count on one hand the number of crimes in most areas that involve automatic weapons and/or armored perpetrators.

 

[Erand7899]

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) announced Thursday that he plans to file legislation aimed at stemming the militarization of local police -- something on full display this week in Ferguson, Missouri, where officers in riot gear have been showering largely peaceful protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets.

In a letter to his Democratic colleagues, Johnson asked for support for his bill, the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act. The measure would rein in a Defense Department program that provides Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, M16 assault rifles and other surplus military equipment to local law enforcement, free of charge.

"Our main streets should be a place for business, families, and relaxation, not tanks and M16s," Johnson says in his letter. "Our local police are quickly beginning to resemble paramilitary forces. This bill will end the free transfers of certain aggressive military equipment to local law enforcement and ensure that all equipment can be accounted for."

Johnson will file his legislation in September. His office said he has been working on it for months but decided to expedite it in light of this week's events in Ferguson. Protests began there Saturday after a police officer killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager who was walking down the street.

"Before another small town's police force gets a $700,000 gift from the Defense Department that it can't maintain or manage, it behooves us to rein in the Pentagon's 1033 program and revisit the merits of a militarized America," reads his letter to colleagues. "I hope we can work together on this important issue."

The Georgia Democrat isn't the only lawmaker who wants to scale back local police forces' access to military weapons. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said Thursday that it's "time to demilitarize this situation" in Ferguson, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wrote a Thursday op-ed titled, "We Must Demilitarize The Police."

House Democrat Readies Bill To Demilitarize Local Police

I couldn't agree more! Local police forces must be demilitarized. Their role is to protect and serve - not bully and intimidate.

Stopping the transfer of excess military equipment to states, counties, and cities, is not going to demilitarize the police, and is nothing more than a political ploy to say we hear you and we feel your pain, while doing nothing useful.

You demilitarize the police by passing laws that actually limit what the police can do, and back those laws up with real penalties for those who violate those limits. When there are real penalties for police officers acting illegally, they will cease acting illegally.

 

[nodoginnafight]

"... they NEED the equipment to deal with criminals they are NOT an agency that should have access or use military gear..."

But the criminals have "military gear."

Most crimes are committed with handguns, by unarmored criminals. You can count on one hand the number of crimes in most areas that involve automatic weapons and/or armored perpetrators.

And those are usually the times the PD breaks out the SWAT team/gear

 

[martybegan]

But the criminals have "military gear."

Most crimes are committed with handguns, by unarmored criminals. You can count on one hand the number of crimes in most areas that involve automatic weapons and/or armored perpetrators.

And those are usually the times the PD breaks out the SWAT team/gear

they are tending to break it out far more than needed. The incident in Atlanta where the toddler got flash-banged comes to mind.

Police are going with the 'well we have this gear, might as well use it mentality" far too much for normal policing activities.

 

[nodoginnafight]

"... they NEED the equipment to deal with criminals they are NOT an agency that should have access or use military gear..."

But the criminals have "military gear."

Most crimes are committed with handguns, by unarmored criminals. You can count on one hand the number of crimes in most areas that involve automatic weapons and/or armored perpetrators.

1991 study of juvenile offenders:

35% owned a military-style automatic
or semiautomatic rifle.

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/GUIC.PDF

YES - police need to be a lot more judicious in their use of the "heavy artillery". But when they need it - they need it.