Free Republic

It’s a phrase few Americans ever have the occasion to say: “I’m really getting pulled over by a tank right now.” The reasons why the Florida man said it are just as eyebrow-raising as the fact that he was pulled over by a “tank” in the first place. The whole encounter was captured on video. The Gainesville Sun reported Monday on the story of 23-year-old Lucas Jewell, a self-professed Navy veteran and Gainesville City Commission candidate, who was pulled over by sheriff’s deputies in an armored personnel vehicle after a University of Florida football game Saturday. At first, Jewell thought...

(Phoenix, AZ) Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says his deputies have identified the old military equipment issued to his agency as part of what is now called the Pentagon’s ‘1033 Program’ and his Office is more than willing to relinquish the vintage equipment to the federal government now that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has been terminated from the program. The Sheriff has 120 days to return the gear.

The U.S. military has some of the most advanced killing equipment in the world that allows it to invade almost wherever it likes at will. We produce so much military equipment that inventories of military robots, M-16 assault rifles, helicopters, armored vehicles, and grenade launchers eventually start to pile up and it turns out a lot of these weapons are going straight to American police forces to be used against US citizens. Benjamin Carlson at The Daily reports on a little known endeavor called the "1033 Program" that gave more than $500 million of military gear to U.S. police forces...