Thats actually a good point, ZZzzz. The same principle works on illegal immigration. Come down heavy on both illegals and American business that hire them. BAM. Illegal immigration gone tomorrow. Thats too easy, of course. No need for gigantic Federal Bureaucracies and out-of-control budgets to 'fight' the immigration war. What was it the Carnegie Endowment telegrammed to Wilson shortly after the start of WW1?? Don't let the war end too quickly...
We agree twice on the same day Sign of the times, eh? From what I've seen, the Government - via CIA and DEA - ship in the drugs. Several high-level Government Agents/'Officials' went public on that. Guns to crooks. I haven't heard that. Are you suggesting the Government is involved in running guns to gangs/mafia? Makes sense. Keep citizens scared. Which fattens LE/FBI budgets while justifying more Federal Power and police state law to keep Government in our lives. Its perfect problem-reaction-solution. So would not be surprised.
Reaver, what did you do prior, if you're at liberty to say? This thread needs an interjection of opinion from Rearden. I find his commentary always provocative. Hapa, don't you think you're being just a tad dogmatic? Reaver originally posed the subject we're discussing (whether garden variety LEOs need to be armed to the ultimate teeth, rather than reasonably equipped in a 'free society') as a question, not a statement. I'm not even necessarily disagreeing with the core of what you're opining. It's just that you seem to be so 'black and white' about it (no pun intended), and I (and maybe some others) tend to see it in shades of gray.
Hap, I normally agree 100% with you, but I just am not aware of an epidemic of cops being gunned down by assault-rifle wielding thugs. In fact, I am not aware of even a single incident. That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of them, but I haven't seen any evidence of it. The other problem I have is I don't see any real need for them having AR-15's . How exactly does it even the playing field? The cops already have high capacity big bore auto pistols, a more useful weapon in most real world situations. And shotguns, an even more useful realworld weapon. A rifle would be handy in a long distance shootout, something that rarely happens. The Ar-15 shoots a small, high velocity round, which is the exact opposite of what you want for urban combat. A better weapon would be one of the modern carbines that shoot .45 ACP ammo, a heavy, relatively slow speed round. I would think the only advantage thugs would have is if they had full auto weapons. I'm sure plenty of them do. I don't see how semi-auto AR-15s offset that. And no one is saying issue machine guns to street cops.
Yeah man nothing top secret or anything: Visit Board Search and Seizure Team, USN. Mainly operated off the coast of Somalia and the Arabian Sea/Persian Gulf. We would board suspicious vessels out to sea and inspect them, etc. If necessary, the crewmembers would be detained. SEALs used to do it but a little after 9/11 they started training teams to do it in order to decrease the SEALs workload. SEALs did a lot of the instruction. To my knowledge it was mostly amphibs and PC boats that had VBSS teams. In early '04, while on deployment, my term was coming up right around the time two guys from the VBSS team on the USS Firebolt got blown up. The merchant craft was a trap. Rigged to explode. I had recently received orders to BUD/S and was going to be required to extend another minimum 36 months OBLISERVE. Transfer paperwork was being drafted. By that time however, I had become sufficiently disillusioned and was ready to roll. I turned down a $40k tax-free reenslistment bonus and went home. Most definitely agreed.
Thanks for your service. Navy and Coast Guard Boarding Teams are extremely well trained, very professional, and that task is much more challenging and risky than many civilians realize.
Oh man, a new low in ignorance displayed by one of the resident moonbats. Police checkpoints are successful in confiscating most of the illegal assault rifles out there?!? What planet do you live on? It must be the same as the Zzzenutroll, who claims the government doesn't go after those who sell guns illegally. Yeah, the whole ATF must be corrupt, because Bush is in the Oval Office. The two of you should get together and compare the philosophies of Code Pink and L. Ron Hubbard. That would be one heck of a soiree....the two of you will be the founders of a new organization dedicated to lozzzers like yourself: Idiots Monotonous. ROFLMAO!!
Not aware of a single incident? C'mon, AAA, watch the video in the original post!! It definitely talks about one recent incident where a cop was killed recently by a would-be burglar armed with assault weapons. And that's just one urban area... Furthermore, also in the video, the police chief of Miami talks about how incidents with criminals using assault rifles are up 20% this year, after an 18% jump last year. The facts appear to be that assault rifles are being used more often every year by criminals. Finally, if you watch the video and listen to the report, you'd notice that the cops are using AR-15's that are fully automatic variants. Speaking about what criminals are armed with while referring to her AR-15, the female officer says, "This is what they have. They're using automatic weapons now."
Packing in public: Gun owners tired of hiding their weapons embrace 'open carry' http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/columnone/la-na-opencarry7-2008jun07,0,2510183.story
Too bad the good ones will never do anything about the bad ones. The cop mentality is "us vs them", through which they dehumanize regular civilians. It's to the point where innocents being killed by NYC cops is not a surprise. No such thing as a good cop, IMO. Not under this government & bureaucracy. It's not possible to be one, because the establishment will crush you or brainwash you. Cops carrying Assault Rifles has been happening for a while. It's very sad. Soon they will be shooting kids by "accident' and getting off with 3 month suspensions. They already have the right to kill people for pulling out their wallets.