Is Trump right to militarise US Police?

Trump signs executive order lifting Obama-era ban on police departments getting surplus military equipment – including armored vehicles and grenade launchers
President Trump is set to sign an executive order Monday that will overturn a military equipment ban for law enforcement officials
Attorney General Jeff Sessions discussed the plan during the annual meeting of Fraternal Order of Police in Nashville, Tennessee
Under the plan, an Obama-era executive order would be overturned
Trump's new order will reinstate police departments' ability to obtain firearms, bayonets, 50-caliber ammunition, riot shields – and even grenade launchers
Obama's executive order was first put into place amid controversy following a militarized police response to 2014 race riots in Ferguson, Missouri

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Johnson212 · 61-69, M

Yes, he needs to in order to deal with Antifa and the violence of the alt-left.

malizz · 70-79, M

@Johnson212 You wish. The establishment are more likely to target the alt right.

BlueMetalChick · 26-30, F

@Johnson212 Antifa, who do shit like throwing rocks or empty bottles, needs to be dealt with using heavily militarized police? Antifa has yet to kill anyone or even significantly injure a person. Sure, they're annoying and they're breaking shit and causing damage to property, but a normal police department could handle them.

katielass · F

@Johnson212 Absolutely. The violent left must be taught that they cannot destroy and use violence to get their way. They will need to learn to make coherent arguments to sway public opinion. Violence does not persuade, it invites more violence.

Johnson212 · 61-69, M

@BlueMetalChick Actually they have killed people not Antifa by that name but the left wing groups Anitifa sprang from have, their ideals are not much different than the weather underground.

BlueMetalChick · 26-30, F

@Johnson212 Yeah? And how long ago was that? Over 70% of domestic terrorism in the United States is driven by far right wing groups and idealists, so I think it's safe to say you're focusing on the wrong target. And that's not my statistic, that's from New America's exhaustive study of deaths caused by terrorism within the US and the people who committed them. There were even more attacks from right wing extremism than there were from jihadist Muslims, although the attacks from jihadists did kill more people in total, but with fewer attacks.