The solution for this nonsense is at the State level. Simply put, States should put their foot down and prohibit police departments in their State from being militarized.
It really is as simple as that. They can tell all the police departments in their State that they may no longer keep or obtain military weapons beyond a strict list provided by the State. Any that they currently have must be turned over to the State for disposition.
It doesn’t matter if the DHS, the DEA, or whoever, wants to give them the stuff for free, or grants to buy it themselves, or a big chunk of cash from drug confiscation monies.
Just say NO. No federal grants to local law enforcement, except through the State government, and no conditions on such money, either, involving SWAT paramilitary training, or integration with federal law enforcement agencies, or just about anything else.
In other words, if the feds show up at your door, send them up the chain, because you are not permitted to take their dime, or really to have anything to do with them, without State police and Attorney General approval.
A lot of this stuff started in the 1970s, with a small number of heavily publicized police assassinations, mostly by leftist radicals. So in conjunction with the War on Drugs begun by Richard Nixon, the militarization of local police departments began.
It has run its course as a philosophy, and has caused just as much harm as it has solved. Only a handful of big cities, with rampant violent crime, still need SWAT teams. Most of the rest of the country does not.
So, what brave State legislator will stand up to propose the demilitarization of the police in his State?
Yep, we need legislators and governors willing to put an end to this.
Let the military be the military and the police be the police.
Those boys WILL use those toys.