There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. - Marine General Smedley Butler - Two-time recipient of the Medal of Honor.
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Governor Nixon:
The
events in Ferguson have shown us daily that the looting and violence
by a few is not being stopped, while the right of the people to
peaceably assemble and petition government for redress of grievances is
not being respected. The current riot control tactics of the local
police, rooted in outmoded techniques developed in the 1950's - and
only made worse by the ongoing militarization of our police - are
failing the people of Ferguson, giving them a false choice between
rampant looting on the one hand, and hyper-militarized police and
curfews on the other (which also fail to stop the looting, leaving the
mistaken impression among many of the American people that even more
militarization and curtailment of free speech and assembly is needed).
Our local boots on the ground, made up of retired police officers,
military veterans, and intelligence workers (with critical input from
current serving Missouri police officers) have answers that could
provide the people of Ferguson the relief they need and deserve while
respecting their rights. It is time to change a losing game.
The
militarized police response we saw in Ferguson did not work. All it
did was violate the rights of peaceful protesters and media, alienate
the community, and make our country look even more like a police state,
with big, intimidating displays of heavily armed, militarized
officers, in full "battle-rattle" and backed by BearCat type armored
vehicles, firing CS gas and rubber bullets into peaceful protesters and
even at media personnel, while failing to stop those relative few who
were actually looting, throwing Molotov cocktails, and shooting.
The
police focus on peaceful protesters, with lines of policemen equipped
in riot gear, in fundamentally static positions - at best, slow,
plodding, on-line advances - are easily thwarted by modern looters and
thugs with cell phones and team work. Such outdated tactics fail to
apprehend those actually looting and shooting.
What
they do succeed in doing is alienating the local population while
risking additional shooting incidents due to unsafe gun-handling.
There were multiple instances of police officers pointing M-4s and
sniper rifles at unarmed, peaceful protesters, media, and local
residents just going about their business, in displays of spectacularly
unsafe weapons discipline and methodology. As one of our police
sniper veterans pointed out, even police snipers deployed in response
to prior incidents of shots fired should have used spotting scopes to
observe the crowd and search for potential threats, not their rifle
scopes.
Even
worse were the well-publicized incidents of officers routinely
pointing M-4s at unarmed protesters at close range for no apparent
reason other than to intimidate. An officer facing an actual lethal
threat should be moving to cover, not standing there in a static bunch
with other officers, using the rifle as a threat display.
More @ Oathkeepers
I love Smedley - need that on a teeshirt and a mug!
ReplyDeleteNow, that's an idea! Need to check how much.
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