While the POTUS was speaking in another failed democratic social experiment, Camden, NJ, he announced this gem:
Basically, our illustrious king, er president, had signed some sort of bill that would stop our law enforcement from getting certain equipment fom the military programs that had been providing it.
Saw that earlier. Idiot.
Who has been using tracked vehicles and bayonets? Though a good grenade launcher is a great less lethal and gas launcher.
Have no fear they will sell it/give it to our friends in the ME who will in turn abandon it after they get scared. Yes I am talking about Iraq.
The report outlines a list of military equipment that is now prohibited for transfer to civilian law enforcement, including armored, tanklike vehicles that use a track system instead of wheels; grenade launchers; weaponized aircraft; and firearms over .50 caliber.
What about flamethrowers?
Was any of this stuff available under 1033 anyway?
I think 40mms were, which as previously stated are good for non lethal. The rest of it kinda has me scratching my head.
Most of the LEO stuff is 37mm.
I’ve never seen a police M203.
I’ve seen more than a few 40mm MGLs used by law enforcement. Seen a few single shot 79 style launchers used with 37mm rounds w adapters. Not sure sure if they are feeding the MGLs with 37mm rounds with the same adapters or not.
I too have never seen a M203 used by LE. Probably an “image” concern. If you have to point an M-16 type weapon every time you use a LTL round a simple photograph would suggest you are firing live 5.56mm ammo or even worse 40mm HE rounds. That is what almost everyone would associated a M203 with.
Ironically most idiots probably can’t figure out that a 40mm MGL could fire the same HE round because they’ve come to associate their use with LTL rounds.
At any rate, the Obama decision is retarded and will just mean that instead of getting free or cheap equipment from the military, most departments will just buy it new from the manufacturer with the taxpayers dime.
The examples on the news, such as the “sniper AR-15” that can reach out to 500-800 yards, were just retarded. Guess they will have to go back to Remington 700s in .308 so everyone is safe from police snipers.
There is some merit to the discussion that wearing BDUs makes them feel less like part of the community they serve. After all that “camo pattern” really isn’t accomplishing anything. But there is another argument that if you don’t constantly deal with the SWAT guys, most cops don’t dress like GI JOE in the first place.
Also seems like somebody has forgotten about the North Hollywood shootout and the hard lessons learned from that encounter. But in my best Kanye “Obama doesn’t care about people who are cops.”
The way I read was that he stopped gov funding for these items, not banned or restricted them.
You cant ban LE from having equipment, thats all sorts of unconstitutional.
Why do you think there is a push to ‘Federalize’ local police?
They can “push” all they want, fact will remain that it is extremely difficult to overcome statehood and state’s rights.
Don’t really see much of an issue with eliminating tracked vehicles and the like from local LEO. IMO the strings attached to all these government programs far outweigh the actual usefulness of the equipment offered. There are other ways to skin the cat than government dependence.
So it’s better to just leave these items in some abandoned shipping yard in Afghanistan than bring them back to the US and try to get some of the value out of these things that the American tax payer already bought… Makes sense to me. I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t just throw things away. You know like scrapping $50 million worth of F-16s instead of selling them to an allied country.
I wish wasteful spending was a crime.
Which 16s are you talking about?
I don’t mind the PD’s getting things like AR’s for example at a discount, However I question small dept’s(12-24LEO’s) wanting things like Armored vehicles… Locally, a few years back a small town about 10 miles from me had a PD with about 12 LEO’s. Taking advantage of some sort of govt program they ended up getting for free, a 1970’s(Vietnam era) tracked APC…There was a huge uproar that followed… and of course parts, maintainence was on them…at taxpayer expense. To me, before a PD is able to get things like armored vehicles, they need to demonstrate that they have a actual need/ use for it, as well as a way to maintain the vehicle, with out draining the taxpayer. In this case, as far as I know this thing just sits in a garage… Once they figured out what it was going to take to maintain it,(and this small town really couldn’t afford it) I think they figured out they got a white elephant… I mean it’s one thing to have a PD with 5-600 or more officers, and in that case I could see having a couple armored vehicles, but for a small town PD with 12 officers…ahh, NO.
Got my numbers and planes incorrect… 16 cargo planes worth $500 million
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/afghan-military-destroys-16-u-s-supplied-planes/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2787460/U-S-Air-Force-probed-scrapping-costly-planes-bought-Afghans.html
I should have stuck with the $50 million 
Trying to explain to someone who hasn’t had the experience just what the cost of maintenance on some of this equipment will cost is nearly a lost cause.
I maintain this stuff for a living and have had some discussions with some fairly educated folks about the cost of and the cost of not doing maintenance on these White Elephants, for the most part; they don’t get it.
This all sounds good to me, the point of maintenance cost on these things is a very good one. My local PD having any of this does not make me feel in the least bit safer.
Now we just need to put an end to ‘Policing for profit’ which continues to grow.
So why don’t they auction these things off to the public and make some money on them? Win win win for everyone.
For the most part they do that. A couple of times a year they have an auction here and sell a lot of this stuff, much of it is stripped for the engines, transmissions and the rest is cut up for scrap.
All of that works pretty good, but except for the odd ball collector who wants an M113?
I would guess an annual service on some of this equipment might run you 10K + including parts, POL and Labor.