For years, the Obama administration made it its mission to disarm the police as much as possible. Obama went out of his way to sign an executive order blocking law enforcement departments from accessing surplus military equipment.
It is called the 1033 Program, also known as the Federal Law Enforcement Support Program. Whenever federal agencies or departments phase out their equipment, if it is still usable, the federal government sells them to local police departments for just a fraction of what they actually cost. It is a win-win. The federal government gets some of revenue in the door and local police departments are able to stock up without having to pay full price (saving taxpayers millions).
The Law Enforcement Support Program does allow police departments to purchase phased-out firearms from federal departments. That includes service rifles and pistols. But in almost every other case, the weapons and equipment that gets transferred are considered "non-lethal" or "less-than-lethal." The one exception is that police departments can receive surplus "grenade launchers," but the reality is that those are exclusively used for firing smoke and tear gas grenades for crowd control.
As I mentioned, Obama ended this program by an executive order. When Trump took office, he undid Obama's order and allowed police departments to start applying for surplus military equipment again.
Over the past week, you have seen this equipment in use. Riot shields and helmets are almost always hand-me-downs from the Pentagon and Federal prison system. Tear gas canisters are also usually fired from surplus grenade launchers. Even batons, body armor, and SWAT vehicles are commonly transferred from the Feds to local departments.
It is a FACT that without this program, local police departments never would have been able to get these riots under control. Countless American homes, businesses, and lives were saved this week because of this program that Trump restarted.
So, it should come as no surprise that Democrats are now rushing to dismantle this program permanently! But even worse, they have GOPers who have flipped to their side!
Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) is one of many Democrats who just introduced legislation/amendments to stop police departments from accessing surplus Federal equipment. He wants to starve police departments of the very equipment that they need to stop the kinds of riots and looting that we have seen over the past week.
Congressman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, announced that he plans to cut off funding to this program in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (the annual bill that funds the Pentagon). Instead of giving police departments the tools they need to protect their communities at an affordable price, Gallego's bill would cut off the program entirely. Towns and cities would be forced to decide whether to raise taxes on their residents or force police departments to go without the tools they need to keep communities safe.
It is amazing that at a time when police departments need all the help they can get to stop rioters and looters from burning entire neighborhoods to the ground, the Democrats' "solution" is to make police officers' jobs 100x harder.
As I mentioned, the Democrats are picking up GOP supporters for their plan. Rand Paul (R-KY) co-sponsored a nearly identical bill back in 2015, and plans to do so again. Even Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has suggested that this is one of the proposals that will be debated.
The video of George Floyd being killed in the street was abominable. I have not met a single person who was not outraged and heartbroken by that video.
Any police officers who abuse their power to victimize and kill innocent people deserve to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But these bills would not do that. The only thing that these House and Senate bills would do is make it harder for police departments to protect innocent people from violent mobs and riots!
When police officers abuse their power, they must be held accountable. But that does NOT mean that we should end the 1033 Program. All around this country, police officers are saving American lives, businesses, and homes using equipment they acquired from the federal government.
If this program is ended the way Democrats want, police around this country will be overrun. More cities will burn and more innocent people will be beaten and left for dead in the streets.
Congress has only been back in session for a couple days and Democrats are already trying to drag us back into the Obama years by making Barack Obama's executive order permanent. They want to rush this bill through this week and make it illegal for the Trump administration to help police departments put down these riots!
You CANNOT allow this to happen!
Sincerely,
Max McGuire
Advocacy Director
Conservative Daily
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