Posted on 12/31/2014 7:38:10 AM PST by TADSLOS
The federal government shipped nearly 4,000 more assault rifles to local law enforcement agencies in the three months following the Ferguson riots, marking a huge surge in the amount of lethal firearms being doled out to police and sheriffs offices.
The Ferguson riots drew attention and criticism to the massive firepower state and local police are now able to bring to bear on their citizens, and earned scrutiny for the Pentagon project, known as the 1033 program, that helps arm many of those agencies by making surplus military equipment available to them.
President Obama called for a review of the program, civil rights advocates said the local police had become indistinguishable from the military, and even some police departments questioned their own policies.
But a Washington Times analysis of the first three months after the riots shows the program remains popular with law enforcement agencies throughout the country, though there have been some changes in the types of equipment that are now being offered.
The 3,879 rifles the Pentagon shipped was an astronomical increase over the dozen rifles shipped during the same three-month period in 2013, with several police agencies taking delivery of hundreds of rifles soon after the Ferguson riots.
Armored vehicles, which drew particular scrutiny in the riots in Ferguson and other cities, were less popular in the aftermath. The Pentagon shipped just 11 mine-resistant vehicles, or MRAPs, from Aug. 15 through Nov. 14, compared to nearly 180 in the same time period a year earlier.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Obama Federal Police, here we come.
He said he was going to do it. Who is to stop him? The only question is who the police will side with.
Well the people are doing plenty to justify it.
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...
Stephen Dinan need to find out which police departments are getting the bulk of these shipments... or if they're evenly distributed.
My guess is some police departments are with Obama - most are not...
We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that weve set. Weve got to have a civilian national security force thats just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. Barack Hussein Obama, 7/2/2008He doesn't call it a Civil Defense force, that would imply we need (or perhaps that we deserve) defense. The official name is National Civilian Community Corps.
I think of it as the NatCCC, or more simply, as the NatCs...
“lethal firearms”
that made me laugh
Assault rifles, my patootie.
Later in the article it says they are being retrofitted to only fire in semi-auto. So these are not “assault rifles” at all, only the dreaded “assault weapons” readily available over the counter in most states to almost anybody.
It would be a really, really bad idea to give full-auto weapons to cops. Or at least to any but very specially trained units.
IOW, cops are getting AR-15s. So what?
Personally, I think the AR-15 is not a particularly good choice for police work. By its very nature it encourages firing a lot of shots in the general direction of the target rather than one precisely targeted round. That’s the nature of light infantry warfare. But is it really a good idea to be firing lots and lots of rounds in an environment where the #1 mission is (or should be) to prevent collateral damage?
The militarization and federalization of local police forces will be necessary when the government and its leftist operatives turn our inner cities into war zones and domestic terrorist camps. The rest of us will have to be controlled.
Back in the olden days such rifles would have been sold back to the public at auction as the rifles were considered PUBLIC PROPERTY.
Bannerman’s used to buy huge lots of these for resale to individuals and foreign nations.
Hah - fat chance of that.
Don’t you miss those old days?
I do....
I have said this before...rifles are being issued to patrol officers because if incidents like columbine, where patrol did what they were trained to do... Contain and wait for SWAT. How many Poole can die waiting for SWAT to assemble and deploy? Second...they replace shotguns, which are inaccurate and ridiculous in close quarters...third, they allow police to engage a target more accurately at a greater distance than a sidearm..and allows accurate covering fire to be put down to allow others to cover open ground. This all sounds like military stuff...but it is better to have and not need than need and not have
***Later in the article it says they are being retrofitted to only fire in semi-auto.***
Now, wait a minute! According to ATF rules, a firearm built as a full auto and then modified to semi is still considered a full auto!
That is why we don’t see any military issue M-14s in civilian hands. Only M-1As built from the round up as a semi-auto.
Wonder if the Po-lice will also get bayonets! Bill Clinton gave the Los Angeles police dept bayonets!
Gin up some tangibly phony objections to police (there are a lot of real ones but those are from libertarians and conservatives and don’t help Barack Obama any), then waltz in with a Federal deputation to “save the day.”
It corrupts the institution and the people.
We need to be remembering God, and then with God remembered, to be remembering why we did things the way we used to with God in mind.
It ain’t for the local police. It’s just being staged there for the Gestapo.
Just watch, the whole idea of policing here is being remade in military terms while our actual military is now expected to be occupied with police actions.
Whoever gives them the most. This is disgraceful. Cops are supposed to be peace officers nof military. If a situation degrades to the point where military action is needed, we have a National Guard, people I place more trust in with military equipment than cops.
Of course, this fits right in with Zero's 'civilian security force, just as well equipped as the military ...'
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