Conservatives Should Rally In Opposition To Police Firepower

By Bluegrass Bruce

DHS MRAP Vehicle
DHS MRAP Vehicle
AmmoLand Gun News
AmmoLand Gun News

Kentucky – -(Ammoland.com)-  Regardless of your opinion on recent events in Ferguson, MO, anyone who cares about his or her constitutional rights should be very concerned with the level of firepower that is being granted to local law enforcement agencies these days.

Tanks and drones do not belong in the hands of local law enforcement.

Despite what the idiots in the liberal media might say, conservatives and libertarians have been trying to draw attention to this issue for years. In 2012, Sen. Tom Coburn released a comprehensive report illustrating how local law enforcement agencies have come more and more to resemble military units. Glenn Beck has also brought attention to the issue, as has the National Review’s Charles Cooke. Cooke wrote in June:

“Historians looking back at this period in America’s development will consider it to be profoundly odd that at the exact moment when violent crime hit a 50-year low, the nation’s police departments began to gear up as if the country were expecting invasion — and, on occasion, to behave as if one were underway.”

Following the events in Ferguson, Senator Rand Paul also spoke out on this topic, writing:

“Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies—where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement.”

But the unfortunate truth is that voices like Paul’s are the exception in today’s Republican Party. The RINO establishment has remained silent on the growth of police firepower and even encouraged it.

When an amendment was introduced to the Defense Appropriations Bill in June to prohibit the transfer of military weapons to local law enforcement, only nineteen Republicans voted for it. In 2012, Republican Governor Bob McDonnell of West Virginia recommended that police use drones to hunt American citizens on domestic soil (something that has since become commonplace.)

Even the NRA (or at least one of its paid commentators) has come out in support of police militarization. Earlier this year, NRA commentator Dom Raso released two videos on the issue despite protests from the pro-2A community.

The Republican establishment seems to be more interested in pleasing defense companies who view police departments as customers than they are in protecting the civil rights of American citizens. They need to get their priorities straight and take a stand for basic conservative principles.

About Bluegrass Bruce
Bluegrass Bruce is a hunter, political blogger, and UK basketball fan from Kentucky. His opinions on gun rights and politics are posted on “Bluegrass Bruce” and shared on websites and blogs across the United States. Visit: www.bluegrassbruce.blogspot.com

Dom Raso
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William

Hey Chuck, chill out. You going to give yourself a hear-a-stoke for nothing. The “cops” don’t receive any military powers. The program the individual states have an opportunity to participate in allows surplus military equipment to be obtained by state and local law enforcement agencies to use to further law enforcement efforts. The program has been going on forever it seems like. My state participates. My department is the lead law enforcement agency for my state. All surplus military equipment used in this state is the responsibility of my department. It is catalogued and regulated by the Feds. We also… Read more »

silverside

The powers are already there! Driving armored vehicles and wearing BDUs do not give police any additional arrest, search, or super-powers. If the order was given to take citizens guns away I doubt that would be followed by the rank and file.

silverside

The powers are already there! Driving armored vehicles and wearing BDUs do not give police any additional arrest, search, or super-powers.

Chuck

Cops are not the military and should not be given this power. All this is coming to is to take away citizens rights to guns and gun prohibition, not gun control.

silverside

First off everyone needs to realize there is no conspiracy on the part of the police to take over America by force. And to clarify tanks and drones are not available through 1033 and never were. Whoever has those is paying for them from their own budget. If you have the choice of taking cover behind a car or an MRAP, which would you choose? As stated in another article riot control police are the consequence, not the cause of the riot. Should police confront these criminals wearing big pillows, in hopes the rocks and bullets will bounce off? Quit… Read more »