oljames3 wrote:Welcome home, brother.skeathley wrote:Sorry, I disagree. When 100 cops are mobbed by 500 antifa thugs carrying clubs and machetes, we are at war. Cops might not need grenade launchers, but they need body armor, shields, SMGs with rubber bullets, shotguns with rubber slugs, etc. Police have held back ever since Ferguson, and that needs to stop. We are getting close to armed revolution.
In the event of large scale civil disturbance, the Governor can call out the National Guard. Until then, the police and fire fighters are on their own. I don't expect them to be as well armed as my artillery battery, but I do expect them to be better armed than I, as a civilian, am. These are the folks who run to the sound of the guns. I will help as I can, but the best I can do have their backs. They deserve and need the tools to do the job well. They need and deserve the training to survive in the toxic environment in which they work daily. Much of the tools and training will resemble military tools and training. That is the nature of the beast.
I don't expect my small town PD, to bankrupt the city coffers to get armored personnel carriers, or anti aircraft batteries, but in large cities, like Houston, Dallas, etc, where there is a greater chance of large scale, civil unrest, rioting etc., I can see the need for heavier armaments, than just patrol cars, and 12 gauge shotguns. It took a robot controlled explosive to take out the shooter in Dallas, last year, so if something like that can save lives, then I'm all for it. Despite law enforcement, having heavier equipment, there have been very few instances, where I felt the police over reacted, to any situation, by bringing more than what was necessary, to deal with any issue. JMHO