Last week I posted on how our states are being militarized by our government gifting heavy armored vehicles, weapons, battle gear, and ammo to police and sheriff departments from sea-to-shining sea, or at the very least, to city and state law enforcement bodies that might be favorable to the Obama administration’s version of ‘justice.’ In February, a WSJ article said “residents in some towns” are resisting. I used a photo from Salinas, California in my earlier article, and this morning a reader alerted me to Gateway Pundit’s story on 13,000 MRAPs being distributed to police in places we may or may not hear about. The Salinas police posing in the photo above is one of those 13,000. Take a closer look at the beast below, read more about resistance to this trend and few an excellent video if you have the time.
In November 2013, Reason ran an article saying that 500 cities “Get Free Tanks,” but taxpayers bought them for the DOD initially at $658,000 for each.
The vehicle came as part of the infamous “1033 program,” through which Defense gets rid of excess stuff it didn’t need in the first place by putting it into circulation via local police departments (it’s like a gun giveaway in reverse and with tons more firepower). Read Reason on that…
No journalist has done more to highlight the militarization of police than former Reason staffer Radley Balko (archive here), now at the Huffington Post (archive here). Watch this interview about his recent book Rise of the Warrior Cop. Source: Reason
I’ll take it !
The militarization of the police makes me think of the Ring-wraiths from Lord of the Rings.
The nine human lords were foolish enough to accept Sauron’s rings and to use them. They then fell under the power of Sauron and became his most fearsome weapon, the Nazgul.
Towns that are against it should take them anyhow, more than one if possible. If the crap ever hit the fan, those towns that have resisted will be the first to come under siege from the regressive brown shirts. I wouldn’t mind having a couple of those in my back pocket to resist with.
What no Ma Duce 50 cal. Where is the RPG screens ?
I’d go muddin’.
OoOoOo! I’LL take it! Gimme gimme!
Most small cities & towns will not have the budget to maintain these vehicles. They’ll be a ‘white elephant’ sitting in the back lot with the wrecks & derelict cop cars.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ nails it.
At 20-tons and 5 mpg (tops), they’d never be able to afford to run them or service them. 😉
Michael Moore & Piers weren’t available for comment when asked why anyone would need such a thing.
But, Franklin, how cool they would be to take to schools for those traveling D.A.R.E. classes.
🙂 🙂 🙂
Maybe they can be fitted with snow plows.
Such types of equipment need maintenance and are thus open to subtle forms of sabotage…as are the bells and whistles in gov’t computer surveillance systems.
So the Conservative cities and municipalities with the common sense to comprehend the consequences of having one and/or the integrity to acknowledge that it is absolutely unnecessary and downright “anti-American” to employ a machine like that against its own citizens, have rejected Sauron’s rings. But the corrupt incompetent power-hungry Leftist Hyenas are grabbing them as fast as they can, and when they figure out they can’t afford to operate it against those Right-Wing Tea Monsters they’ll just trade off a little more of the serfs’ tributes to Prince Johbama for some quick stimilus moneyz!!!
Is it time yet?
Sure small towns can afford them. That’s what the revenue from seat belt and speeding tickets is for. Add it up, it’s millions of dollars each year.
“Sell em to the drug lords.”
-Eric “the red” Holder
Apparently authorities fear being targets of unruly mobs.
Now what do you suppose they plan to do that could cause that?
Why can’t *I* buy an MRAP?… I can think of a few good uses for them. 🙂
We are a town of only 23,000 and we are getting one. Why? A small town that calls itself a city in Maine with a low crime rate.
As a taxpayer, I have questioned them as to why, and how much it will cost to run and maintain and if it is going to be used for more than a pr vehicle.
Ridiculous!
I’m sure deBlasio will want a few for his entourage.
Just what I need for that pesky downtown traffic. No more getting cut off.
Why not accept it and immediately turn it into an attraction to make money for the town/county.
Even give rides around with off-duty cops driving, making a little scratch for the muni coffers.
On a more serious note, wouldn’t we want one or two for the little peoples’ side? TYVM, can I have another?
Are you sure you can’t AvgDude?
You can buy a tank.
I’ve been to Salinas. The cops probably need these in that craphole.