So, in your opinion, it's not even remotely possible or rational to have levels of police, armed in graduated levels, depending on the nature of their duties? Every garden variety officer and patrol car should ultimately be equipped with incendiary grenades, armor piercing ammunition and a .50 cal?
In Brazil they use assault rifles, throw grenades and deal with bad guys execution style all the time ... You guys are just at the beginning. PS! You have reached the limits of your prisons and detention centers ... build some more or start diminishing live criminals eligible for incarceration.
Maybe they should focus on the basics like fucking physical fitness tests for LEOs. Make them remain under 25% bodyfat before worrying about how many grenades they get to carry. The point is, when you take firearms away from the citizens, whether directly or synthetically (which is essentially what is happening when you start giving tanks and spyplanes and shit to cops) you start to set the stage for some major 1984 type shit. I support LEO's and those that serve in the military and believe that the overwhelming majority of them are good people. It is not the individuals I am referring to here, it is the system that is being set up for exploitation and corruption. Turn it into whatever you want. I think ByLoSellHi and nutmeg in particular had good comments.
Any police officer ought to be as well-armed if not better armed than the criminals they encounter. Simple as that.
I do not share your paranoia about the law enforcement system being corrupt as a whole. This whole 1984 argument has been regurgitated over and over by the moonbats since 9/11 - our privacy was being invaded, Big Brother is everywhere, there are secret detention camps for those who are being whisked away at night by the domestic arm of Blackwater, etc., etc. It has been almost seven years since 9/11: tell me, which of your rights have been violated to the point that you feel it is evident that we are becoming a police state?
Blackwater worked with our VBSS team back when they were just becoming popular. I have friends working with them now. I went home and started paying taxes again, they tripled their salary and joined up with Blackwater. Plenty of good guys filling their ranks. I am not worried about that. I think you have me mixed up here. I am not paranoid or a moonbat. But I am not a moronic sheep either. The Framers themselves warned of these types of situations. You got the wrong guy if you think I am sitting around typing paranoid shit out of my mom's basement. Bro I have spent my time on the other end. That is why I see the reality of this shit if it were to go wrong. It's a damned if you do/damned if you don't situation. I truly think the main problem is the fact that assault weapons, etc are illegal. Criminals are going to have them anyway.....so that means cops need them....law abiding citizens are the ones left "defenseless". That is where it can start to get ugly. Just ask Hitler, Mao, Stalin, etc.
A bullet from a handgun will kill you. A bullet from an assault rifle will kill you. So what the fuck difference does it make? America is not becoming a police state. All is well and good. Take the blue pill and go back to sleep.
Well okay, things are clearer with your post. I don't think you're a moonbat loonie, but I don't see how you go from defenseless civilians to arguing that cops shouldn't have the assault rifles that the criminals do unless a part of you fears that so arming the cops is part of a hidden agenda of some kind to control the populace at large. And I just don't buy that. I do not see us becoming a police state at all. 9/11 has required increased surveillance, certainly, in order to protect us, but I don't think we are anywhere near the point where we are in danger of becoming a police state. I mean, who would head this dictatorship? Bush?!? Is he going to suddenly suspend the Constitution before November or something and declare himself king?!? I don't think so, but I'm sure there are a lot of moonbats who are certain Bush will attack his own country (again) on the pretext of declaring martial law so he can do exactly that.
Your sarcasm is noted. Please provide evidence that America is becoming a police state. (Long lines at the airport and the monitoring of your conversation if you get a call from a suspected Al Qaeda operative does not count.)
My thoughts exactly. Cops should never possess assault weapons. Someone please name one contemporary instance where traditional firepower (shotguns, handguns and overwhelming force) was insufficient to take down a criminal enterprise in the United States. The only instance I can think of is the border war with Mexican Military & Drug Cartels. This is a military matter, anyway. Not law enforcement. Posse Comitatus is toast. No help there. You are right. The police are becoming Militarized. Helicopters, tanks, APC's, swat teams, assault rifles, black masks, tazers, random 'checkpoints', pain compliance. This is not what the Founders intended for the reason you expressly gave. The Country has lost its way. Granted, there are plenty of good Cops. But how many of those "Good Cops" will follow orders when it comes time to confiscate firearms, run check points or round up citizens to internment camps? Lots of them. You can bet on it.