“We will not put superficial concerns above public safety,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions told the Fraternal Order of Police Monday. “The executive order the president will sign today will ensure that you can get the lifesaving gear that you need to do your job.”
Apparently that means making sure the local cop on your block has an armory stocked with night-vision goggles and bayonets, M-16A2 machine guns and .50 caliber sniper rifles, armored personnel carriers, and grenade launchers.
The Trump administration has resumed the transfer of surplus military weapons, vehicles, and equipment to local police departments through what’s called the “1033 program.” This is a mistake.
The federal government got into the domestic gun running business under President George H.W. Bush in 1990, transferring $1 million worth of military gear to local law enforcement. Since then local police stations have turned into little Alamos with ammo dumps. By 2013 under President Obama, Uncle Sam was shipping $450 million in gently-used military equipment.
To be sure, some shipments included mundane things like office furniture and flak jackets. Other caches included heavy weaponry and vehicles that everyday citizens would describe as tanks. All of this raises obvious questions, for instance, does little Mayberry really need its own armored vehicles? Does Barney Fife really need an M-14 Carbine?
Sending cops into neighborhoods strapped for battle can create a dangerous use-it-or-lose-it mentality. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., remembers visiting a sleepy sheriff’s office when he was governor only to discover “the sheriff was out taking helicopter lessons so he could use one the seven helicopters his office had gotten for ‘free.'”
More than an issue of accessorizing, tricking out local cops leads to increased and unnecessary policing. When violent crime was 63 percent higher than today in 1980, there were an average of three SWAT raids per day in the entire country. Today, with crime way down, there are now about 120 SWAT raids daily.
That brand of overkill policing was on full display in Ferguson in 2013. During crowd control, police played Army with military surplus, and images of civilian officers aiming sniper rifles at protesters went viral. In response to the bipartisan outcry, President Obama placed significant restrictions on the 1033 program.
It was a smart move. Unlike in Europe, everyday Americans didn’t have to walk by cops on main street toting machine guns. But now Trump has made government gun-running great again.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
