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Rand Paul: We Must Demilitarize the Police
Time ^ | August 14, 2014 | Sen. Rand Paul

Posted on 08/14/2014 8:32:25 PM PDT by conservative98

Anyone who thinks race does not skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention, Sen. Rand Paul writes for TIME, amid violence in Ferguson, Mo. over the police shooting death of Michael Brown

The shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown is an awful tragedy that continues to send shockwaves through the community of Ferguson, Missouri and across the nation.

If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn’t have expected to be shot.

The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting. There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.

The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action.

Glenn Reynolds, in Popular Mechanics, recognized the increasing militarization of the police five years ago. In 2009 he wrote:

Soldiers and police are supposed to be different. … Police look inward. They’re supposed to protect their fellow citizens from criminals, and to maintain order with a minimum of force.

It’s the difference between Audie Murphy and Andy Griffith. But nowadays, police are looking, and acting, more like soldiers than cops, with bad consequences. And those who suffer the consequences are usually innocent civilians.

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: donutwatch; leosoutofcontrol; militarizedpolice; police; randpaul
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To: GeronL

Every law abiding citizen in this country can have an AR-15 and 100 rounds if they so chose. I have a .22 long rifle semi-auto with 1,500 rounds and several hand guns, all with ammunition. No one stopped me. I bought them at a store.

Could have bought an AR-15 as well. Didn’t want one. No place to shoot it regularly for practice.


21 posted on 08/14/2014 9:20:10 PM PDT by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: SoConPubbie

Once again, Rand Paul is Ron Paul in camouflage.


22 posted on 08/14/2014 9:24:18 PM PDT by flaglady47 (The useful idiots always go first)
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To: NFHale; GOPJ; Conservative9; xkaydet65; Impy
RE:”“...I would be glad they came to keep the looters and rapists out,...”
....
They don’t get there until after it happens, brother.”

Yes, That has happened more than once
however when you run low on ammo wouldn't you feel better seeing those police armored trucks come in to make the rev Al Sharpton looter/riot army flee from them?

I dont trust the police with their power at all, in fact I regularly complain about them and plot against their speed traps too(on blogs) , but better them than the rev Al 'kill whitey' Brigades.

23 posted on 08/14/2014 9:27:06 PM PDT by sickoflibs (King Obama : 'The debate is over. The time for talk is over. Just follow my commands you serfs""')
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To: conservative98
Most police officers are good cops and good people

In all seriousness, since about 2004 or so, "[citation needed]".

24 posted on 08/14/2014 9:28:30 PM PDT by jiggyboy
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To: NFHale; GOPJ; Conservative9; xkaydet65; Impy

Just to add NFH, I wish you were my neighbor.. :)

I’d be there with : ‘Any ammo to spare bro? Its getting bad out there’


25 posted on 08/14/2014 9:29:40 PM PDT by sickoflibs (King Obama : 'The debate is over. The time for talk is over. Just follow my commands you serfs""')
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To: Jim from C-Town

We have food stamps and EBT and section 8....

I think we need to arm the armless!


26 posted on 08/14/2014 9:30:24 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: Theodore R.
*Did Rand mention the soldier still being held in Mexico for making a wrong turn?

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has a tongue-in-cheek suggestion for President Obama: Negotiate another prisoner exchange, but this time trade five senior Democrats for a U.S. Marine being held in Mexico.

Addressing the GOP convention in Fort Worth, Texas Friday, Paul said a delegate he had been chatting to had said, “There is one guy who is kind of deserving we ought to try to get home, and that’s the Marine who accidentally carried his guns into Mexico.”

“So here’s what I’m thinking: Mr. President, you love to trade people.”

“Why don’t we set up a trade? But this time, instead of five Taliban, how about five Democrats?” Paul said to laughter and applause. “I’m thinking John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi – couldn’t we send them to Mexico?”

27 posted on 08/14/2014 9:30:53 PM PDT by Gunslingr3
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To: Jim from C-Town

states like Maryland I think ban guns like the AR-15


28 posted on 08/14/2014 9:31:40 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: mrsmel

Who would go into the city of Chicago for anything? Detroit here we come.


29 posted on 08/14/2014 9:32:08 PM PDT by Maudeen ("End Times Warrior - Sinner Saved by Grace")
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To: conservative98

Where Rand Paul ob this issue when Republicans were complaining about Homeland Security supplying Military grade equipment to local police?


30 posted on 08/14/2014 9:32:36 PM PDT by Eva
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To: GeronL

You can still buy a Ranch Rifle. It is a Mini 14. Damn Nice Rifle. It is pretty much an M-14 carbine. Man I want one. Just don’t have a reasonable place to fire it.

http://ruger.com/products/mini14RanchRifle/models.html


31 posted on 08/14/2014 9:39:29 PM PDT by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: Maudeen

One of the bright spots about the Chicago mess (I live on the Gulf Coast, BTW, not Chicago, and can die happy without ever seeing the place) is that all the stupid white libs who voted for Rahm (and Obozo, no doubt) are having to watch as police are pulled from the high-rent areas to be stationed in the ghetto, but the ghetto rats know it too and are going uptown to do their thugging. Read the Second City Cop blog sometime, it’s an interesting view into all the shenanigans going on in that city.


32 posted on 08/14/2014 9:40:04 PM PDT by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
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To: conservative98
Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb?

I recall the 1968 Glenville riots in Cleveland when we ended up with a tank sitting in an intersection on St Clair Avenue. Armor plate comes in handy when people are shooting at you with high power rifles.

33 posted on 08/14/2014 9:45:36 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: sickoflibs; NFHale; Conservative9; xkaydet65; Impy; Liz

Neighborhoods should pay for the police protection they USE - no more - no less...

City residents forced to support police forces that spend 90% of their time, resources, and collective tax dollars dealing with the black community is a mistake.

It’s wrong. Wrong for blacks - wrong for the rest of us. It’s a system that treats blacks like they’re children. (It’s why middle class blacks leave the community when they get a few dollars.)

It’s wrong - AND the incentives created bring about the rage we’re seeing in the streets of Ferguson. And no, this rage has nothing to do with slavery. Or the civil war. The kids on the streets never lived under Jim Crow - they never lived under segregation. That’s liberal elite excuse stuff. The black community needs to pay for their own police protection. They need to be treated like adults. Held to the same standards Tea Party members would be held to if we rioted.

Blacks need to control their own communities on their own dimes. Correct incentives put black adults in charge of the black community. And it removes the power of white liberal elites and black poverty pimps.

If the black community starts PAYING for their own police protection - or ZERO police protection if they want to save money - it’s their call. Their responsibility. They can hire all black cops - or NO COPS whatsoever. Each ‘community’ makes their own call. That treats blacks as grown ups... Which will stop the rage. Which will stop the violence. People want their “police tax’ lower? They’ll stop seeing criminals as ‘cool’.

Here’s “Homeland” - ignoring the real violence of Ferguson - and fantasizing about conservatives doing Ferguson type violence... because Homeland hates conservatives ... off topic - but interesting.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/14/Document-Homeland-Security-Predicts-Rise-of-Anti-Government-Violence


34 posted on 08/14/2014 9:48:38 PM PDT by GOPJ (Just remember, loot the liberals' houses, they don't have guns. - Freeper dfwgator)
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To: mrsmel

Me: We Must Demilitarize Rand Paul


35 posted on 08/14/2014 9:49:19 PM PDT by Henry Hnyellar
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To: Jim from C-Town

Not quite:

Judge Says Second Amendment Doesn’t Protect AR-15s

Their defensive use of firearms as rioters burned and looted other stores in the strip mall couldn’t have occurred in Maryland. There, AR-15-style weapons are banned, more because of the rifles’ “scary” appearance than their lethality. Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act of 2013 makes their possession and open carry illegal.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3193035/posts


36 posted on 08/14/2014 9:49:41 PM PDT by jiggyboy
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To: Henry Hnyellar

Rand Paul needs to be made irrelevant, and fast. I wonder if the left is trying to choose “our”-conservatives-pres candidate already. They always try to, so they can more easily beat them.


37 posted on 08/14/2014 9:51:51 PM PDT by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
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To: Eva

Great typing on my IPad , sorry.


38 posted on 08/14/2014 9:51:56 PM PDT by Eva
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To: jiggyboy

You can still buy a Ranch Rifle. It is a Mini 14. Damn Nice Rifle. It is pretty much an M-14 carbine. Man I want one. Just don’t have a reasonable place to fire it.

Just as deadly and legal in all fifty states.

http://ruger.com/products/mini14RanchRifle/models.html


39 posted on 08/14/2014 9:55:55 PM PDT by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: mrsmel

Irrelevant. Argue as you may the facts are the Police depend too much on SWAT and heavy hands. If the kid reached for the Cops gun he deserved to go to jail but by all accounts so far he tried to run after failing to get the gun and was shot when running. Thats where it gets confusing, as the cops havent released anything and all we have are eyewitnesses. So heres the point on your stats. I agree the blacks has a huge problem with disproportionate crime directed at themselves and others, that is irrelevant to this case. If the eyewitnesses are correct it was an execution, anybody who thinks that is deserving because of stats are well no conservative.


40 posted on 08/14/2014 10:27:11 PM PDT by aft_lizard
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