Jul 21, 2020
On this episode of the Resistance Library Podcast Dan and Sam
discuss everything from the origins of militarized police during
Prohibition to DARPA and the future of police militarization in the
U.S.
The claim often heard from those attempting to pass more gun
control legislation is that all they’re trying to do is get
the
“weapons
of war off our streets,” but it’s simply untrue that
“weapons
of war” are available to the general public. You’d last about three
minutes in a conventional war with an AR-15, even with one of the
most aggressive builds you can get your hands on
(that
doesn’t mean it’s impossible for guerilla uprisings to defeat
powerful enemies). The truth is that the only people with
“weapons
of war” on America’s streets are, increasingly, the
police.
Thanks primarily to the Pentagon's 1033 program which allows law
enforcement agencies to get their hands on Department of Defense
technology and the Bush-era War on Terror, American police have
received a startling amount of heavy-duty, military-grade hardware.
Between 1998 and 2014, the dollar value of military hardware sent
to police departments skyrocketed from $9.4 million to $796.8
million.
And just as when
"all
you've got is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail",
militarized police have become more willing to use their new
weapons when carrying out law enforcement tasks. For example, the
number of SWAT raids in the United States grew dramatically from
about 3,000 in 1980, to a whopping 50,000 SWAT raids in 2014,
according to
The New Jim Crow
by Michelle Alexander.
To say that the militarization of the police is nothing new is to
ignore America’s recent history as well as the long-standing model
of a peace officer. As the police have militarized and the Pentagon
backs major players in Hollywood, the focus has shifted from one
who keeps the peace to one who enforces the law - and that's an
important difference.
You can read the full article “Weapons
of War On Our Streets: A Guide to the Militarization of America's
Police” at Ammo.com.
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