Posted on 08/18/2014 4:40:21 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
President Obama opened the door Monday to reevaluating a massive Defense Department program that sends military equipment to local police forces, in the wake of concerns about the St. Louis Police Department's response to riots and protests in Ferguson, Mo.
"There is a big difference between our military and our local law enforcement, and we don't want those lines blurred," Obama said.
The president spoke at the White House briefing room late Monday, during a pause in the capital from his vacation in Martha's Vineyard. As he has before, Obama walked a fine line in addressing the sustained violence and unrest in the St. Louis suburb over the killing of an unarmed black man by a police officer.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
To understand why the Founders wrote a declaration of independence is to know that the British “standing army” was the de facto police force of the day. There is very little difference between a redcoat patrolling Boston under arms than a policeman walking the beat- if you do some basic literature research, you’ll find that there was no equivalent PD in the time of the revolution ( ref Sir Peale), only an elected or appointed sheriff and a constable maybe, regular citizens were sworn out by the elected officials to apprehend arrest etc for a specific purpose and time. Our modern cop/ policeman patrolman and related organization is NOT what was extant during the framer’s period.
Our extravagant police forces are perhaps the standing army our founders warned about.
The 2A is clearly the authority to protect ourselves, our homes, our towns states and nation, being the crux of the concept of a “free state”.
Regards;
I think that most here knows that Obama is actively seeking a national federal police force “as well armed and equipped as the military”. And he doesn’t want it to round up illegal aliens.
I disagree and I think many on FR would side with me. Too often small-town police departments get things such as military vehicles that they just won't be able to maintain. They will die a slow death from lack of use and lack of maintenance.
Ding, ding, ding we have a thread winnah!
Why does an AK47 become an “assault weapon” in the hands of a citizen but not in the hands of the department of agriculture?
True— he wants it to seal the dictatorship control over the citizens, contrary to our Constitution. Cannot allow this to happen... period.
The police don’t need to be militarized. Policemen in desert/forest cammos are a joke in an urban environment. Leave to SWAT those situations that call for armor and special weapons. If a community is confronted by a riot or mob, as in Ferguson, then have the governor call out a real military force: the national guard. We don’t need a national police force.
This is such a red herring. I’m definitely not in favor of militarizing the police, but what exactly does this have to do with what happened in Ferguson?
exactly
SWAT is for extreme circumstances
True, the founding fathers distrusted a standing army and thought it ought to be as small as possible. They would be appalled that the BLM and SSA have SWAT teams and attack dogs.
Somehow - SPECIAL Weapons and Tactics has become STANDARD Weapons and Tactics
Umm, I would guess that the police are using their federally provided military hardware in Ferguson.
Exactly. There is no reason for every agency of the Fed govt to have their own swat teams. They should limit it to the FBI and US Marshalls. If these other agencies think they need it call them. It would add a set of fresh eyes to the situation and prevent it from being used just for intimidation.
There’s many of us, if not most. Swat teams are necessary. We have military tactics for a variety of run of the mill activities like warrants and minor arrests. One can argue many of the actions in ferguson are legitimate, and most likely are. The officers there, however are armed as much or more than our guys in bagdahd and that is wholly inappropriate in our own soil. We have the 4th amendment being thrown by the wayside in this country as seen in Boston last year. We saw the bureau of land management bring similar tactics to someone accused of tax evasion in Nevada. All this adds up to a lot of bad news. Just because this case in Missouri includes a lot of people behaving abhorrently, and in need of strong a response, it doesn’t make it any better to bring in this display.
certainly seems like it
We aren’t going to be able to stop the proliferation of the military weapons to local police forces.
It’s important, however, to change those things we can, and in this case one thing to change is our perception of those weapons.
We need to begin thinking of them as resources for our side, resources being maintained and fueled for us to use when they are needed.
SQUIRREL!
Why do you think it's necessary?
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