Buelldozer

Hell we don’t even know where the money is coming from (our Government is shut down right now, remember?) let alone what form the transfer will take.

I guess that shit is just in the water here in the US.

The United States was founded with the help of private firearms and it’s citizens have always distrusted and disliked their own Government. What you’re talking about is literally baked into the fabric of our culture.

Meanwhile, showing a cop your gun is a recognized form of suicide.

Meh, it’s all about where you are. I could wander around open carrying a firearm here in Wyoming and have little or no trouble. If I tried it in a liberal area of the country, for example Denver, I’d almost certainly have a problem.

It’s all about the culture of the area.

Some dude’s AR-15 is not going to stop a tank.

You don’t use the AR-15 on the tank. You use it on the people involved in the logistics chain. If that tank doesn’t have a driver, mechanics, fuel, spare parts, etc then the tank is useless. Insurgencies in far away lands didn’t have this option but an insurgency at home certainly would.

Those aren’t tanks and Police Departments get them for little or no money as the US Military declares them surplus. It’s a federal program called LESO / 1033 and it’s been around since the '90s.

A civilian armored car would do the job too but I suspect there’s lobbying/insider trading involved.

Police departments used to do that but someone noticed that while Police Departments were spending money on armored vehicles the military was throwing them away. It was a waste of money all around and so the LESO / 1033 Program was born out of the National Defense Authorization Act of 90/91 and then expanded and made permanent in 1997. (Remember that year, it’s important).

The program actually makes good fiscal sense. Why waste equipment when one branch of Government no longer needs something while another one does.

A big impetus for police departments participating in the program that many people online today weren’t alive for was the North Hollywood Shootout in 1997. A couple of Bank Robbers carrying full auto weapons and wearing body armor tore the shit out of the Hollywood PD because the Police Department didn’t have the equipment or guns to deal with the problem.

In the end they had to use hunting rifles taken from a nearby civilian gunstore and a commandeered armored car. Every Cop in the country was scared shitless that it would happen to them because almost no departments were equipped for that level of violence. So they started grabbing surplus IFVs (MRAPs now) and other gear from the 1033 program.

As time went on and the “Warrior Cop” mentality took hold, primarily from Police Departments hiring untold numbers of returning Gulf War & GWOT Veterans, those Vets pushed to expand their departments use of the 1033 program so they could have access to most of the same gear they were already used to using.

That’s how we got to where we are in 2025. Each individual step makes sense but the outcome of those cumulative decisions is increasingly problematic.

Thank you for this. I know some people won’t appreciate it but not every community needs to be a full time political outlet.