Posted on 08/22/2014 10:17:50 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Over the past two weeks, Americans have been transfixed and horrified by the surreal images of police donning camouflage and gas masks and pointing sniper rifles at unarmed demonstrators in Ferguson, Mo. Why have police departments become so enamored with tools more associated with war than with walking the beat? One answer is receiving precious little attention: America’s gun culture.
America is a nation awash in firearms. It’s simply impossible to talk incisively about what’s happening in Ferguson without talking about guns and the ease with which ordinary citizens and criminals can get access to them.
Police today are much better armed because it’s the only way they can keep up with criminals. When powerful semi-automatic and military-style weapons started to appear on the streets, police departments began moving from six-shot revolvers to semi-automatic weapons. That trend accelerated after several high-profile incidents where officers were simply outgunned by criminals, the most infamous being a 1997 shoot-out at a North Hollywood bank in which the robbers were toting automatic weapons and wearing body armor.
According to David Kennedy, director at the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College, though these types of events are as rare as a “meteor strike” for most communities, police departments increasingly have come to believe that “they should have the technology ready in case one occurs.”(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
Michael A. Cohen must have 5lbs of sand in his mangina.
I would push the time frame back to the 1990's. Here's an interesting factoid from an August 2001 article =>
"Since January 2000 alone, six SWAT teams were put into action in the state [Wisconsin], most recently in tiny Forest County, where only 18 patrol officers serve a 1,000-square-mile jurisdiction with a population of just over 9,000.
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In October 2007, one of the Forest County SWAT officers gunned down six people from his former high school. The following was written a year later in October 2008 =>
"Peterson killed his one-time girlfriend Jordanne Murray and five others during a party at her home in Crandon on Oct. 7, 2007. Authorities have said Peterson was angered by the idea that Murray was dating someone else, and when she demanded he leave her home, he retrieved an AR-15 assault rifle he was issued as a member of the Forest County Sheriff's SWAT team, broke down the door and fired at least 30 shots.
http://wrongful-death-blog.com/tag/wisconsin-wrongful-death-case/page/2/
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There was a long thread about it at FR at the time. To my knowledge, the press never mentioned that he was a SWAT officer. He was referred to as a Forest Co. deputy =>
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1907826/posts
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FYI, a blast from the past.
None, which is why they have to keep referring to an incident from over 20 years ago.
When was the last time you heard of a SWAT team taking down a heavily armed gang? How often do you hear of a SWAT raid as ANYTHING BUT a raid on a single individual who's asleep at the time?
Only two times to be exact......1986 which involved a LEO and his department issued auto and the one listed above.....
Bull.
The reason is the damp fool in Washington before the current menace went overboard in responding COSMETICALLY to the continuing Muslim threat against Civilization by converting police departments into paramilitary barracks. He failed to address the Real Problem in America-our continuing tolerance of Muslims and ISLAM right HERE.
The current Traitor and Menace in Washington has expanded upon this situation to provide for a possible repeat of Lexington and Concord against his thievery of citizen
property and rights by the massive intrusive police state he and his three predecessors helped create.
“...the last words of General Custer at Little Big Horn: “Where did all the Indians come from?” “
You left out the rest of the quote. Here it is, in full: “Where did all the Indians come from? They look friendly enough.”
BUMP for later. :)
One of the perps shot himself in the head because he was out of ammo and pretty much surrounded. The other was shot in the lower leg, don’t remember what caliber, and left to bleed to death in the street while the officers talked about calling an ambulance. But I’m actually okay with that.
IIRC, in the 1997 shootout the second gunman was blasting away from behind a car when a shrewd cop hit the pavement & fired underneath three vehicles at the perp’s unarmored feet.
The perp went down & died shortly afterward.
Anyway, this Boston liberal bemoans the “easy availability of guns to ordinary citizens and criminals”. Nice being lumped together like that, isn’t it?
Back in 1970 the city of CAIRO ILL had a home made version of an armored vehicle. They named it THE WAR WAGON.
If they start paying for these toys out of the personnel budget I bet these toys would not be purchased.
While the liberal notion of America’s “gun culture”, comprised mostly of honest citizens carrying guns, actually is lowering the crime rate, Dear Leader’s immigration policy has rolled out the welcome mat for Mexican cartels and Islamic terror groups.
If only! The police have mp5 sub guns, military m16 rifles and carbines with night vision, armored personnel carriers, etc, ad nauseum. Please name the citizens armed in such a way as the police had to become like this to “keep up”.
Excellent rant Vendie!
Well we knew they would get around to it. What took so long is my question. All those law abiding US citizens just walking around carry guns and doing God knows what.
“Don’t matter if they have a helmet on. They will hit the ground hard and hear nothing but bells and then you can unload a mag in them, at will.”
In that particular case the robbers didnt even have helmets so a decent shot with a 22 LR could have ended it fairly quickly. The problem was the cops were too busy hiding behind their cars to shoot back effectively. I also read a report that none of the female officers present even fired their weapons.
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.
“- Only four (4) of the alleged “protestors” that were arrested in Ferguson Missouri one night last week were residents of Ferguson - dozens of trouble makers suddenly came to Ferguson from New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles, Gary Indiana, Miami, Phoenix, Seattle, and many more urban high barack population cities.”
The question that needs to be asked is HOW these people got to Ferguson? Who paid their travel and living expenses?
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