老澳门开奖结果 Responds to Trump Administration Giving Police Departments Grenade Launchers, Bayonets, Other Military Equipment

August 28, 2017 11:00 am

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NASHVILLE 鈥 Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that President Donald Trump will issue an executive order today allowing the federal government to give police departments certain military equipment鈥攕uch as grenade launchers, high-caliber weapons, and armored vehicles鈥攖hrough the Department of Defense 1033 program and other federal programs. President Barack Obama had stopped the federal government from providing these weapons and vehicles to police through the 1033 program and others in a 2015 executive order.

Kanya Bennett, legislative counsel at the Washington Legislative Office of the 老澳门开奖结果, had this comment:

鈥淲e have an epidemic in the United States of police using excessive force, particularly against people of color, with injuries and deaths mounting. It defies logic to arm the police with weapons of war鈥攇renade launchers, high-caliber assault weapons, and more鈥攂ut that鈥檚 precisely what President Trump and Attorney General Sessions have decided to do.

鈥淭hree years ago this month, the nation witnessed a highly militarized, violent crackdown by police on protesters in Ferguson. Today鈥檚 executive order erases the sensible limits placed by the Obama administration after Ferguson on the kinds of military equipment flowing from the federal government to local police and into our neighborhoods. Tensions between law enforcement and communities remain high, yet the president and the attorney general are giving the police military-grade weaponry instead of practical, effective ways to protect and serve everyone.鈥

For War Comes Home, the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 report on the militarization of the police:
/report/war-comes-home-excessive-militarization-american-police

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