“The Jul/Aug 2014 issue of The Police Marksman is now available online at www.policemarksman.com from Hendon Media Group,” ammoland.com reports. “This issue’s ‘Bullseye’ focuses on long guns with reviews of three AR-style rifles. First up is the Mossberg MMR, an inexpensive carbine that eliminated some standard features to keep the price down. Next is the MGI Hydra, an amazing multi-caliber, quick-change AR rifle that can be tailored to any police assignment. Last, Ruger’s SR-762 ups the ante with a .308 caliber semi-automatic that turned in sub-MOA accuracy and 100% reliability.” To say the timing of this announcement – and the picture accompanying it – is a little off would be like saying . . .
Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson is in a world of trouble for shooting Michael “Gentle Giant” Brown. And yet, if gun rights advocates are arguing that Americans should be able to keep and bear any rifle or firearm they choose, why not the police? After all, the police are civilians, too.
The weapons are not the major disconnect here. For one thing, it’s the double standard. In many states, non-law enforcement civilians can’t own AR-style rifles. Throughout the U.S., non-LEO civilians can’t own modern fully-automatic machine and sub-machine guns.
The other, bigger problem: the MRAPs, drones, flash bangs, full camo costumes and all that operators-operating-operationally equipment given by Uncle Sam to the Mayberry PD. The vast majority of it is completely unnecessary, of course. As we saw in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing “shelter in place” (a.k.a., imposition of martial law), this über military-style kit enables and encourages a military mindset. Which supplants – dangerously – old-fashioned police work.
The question is this: who’s really to blame for police militarization? Aren’t the judges and politicians the real problem? If judges didn’t sign off on no-knock raids, if politicians didn’t appoint, fund and abet proto-fascists in police departments, would police militarization even be an issue? And if that’s true, aren’t voters the cause of all this militarization misegos?