Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has set a Sept. 9 hearing to examine the federal programs that help U.S. law enforcement obtain military-grade gear, her office announced Thursday.
McCaskill will head a hearing of the full Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to look at programs like the 1033 program, which offers free refurbished military equipment to state and local authorities.
The hearing comes in the wake of this month’s protests of the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., which produced images of heavily armed police facing off with civilian protestors. Politicians like McCaskill and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke out against the “militarization” of U.S. law enforcement. President Barack Obama has also ordered members of his administration to reexamine the programs.
“We need to de-militarize this situation,” McCaskill said earlier this month. “This kind of response by the police has become the problem instead of the solution.”
Wouldn’t this type of hearing have been good BEFORE the government started giving police departments military grade weapons? Just sayin’
So we’ve got Senators from MO and KY weighing in, for separate, obvious and transparent reasons.
It would be interesting if a “middle American consensus” could be developed with a handful of other Mid-Western Senators, who typically posture modesty and serve as flaks for big ag and arms contractors. Maybe Mark Kirk in IL or Joe Donnelly in IN, maybe Rob Portman in OH or Joe Manchin in WV or Pat Toomey in PA could see some upside in this.
The problem is not just “get these weapons off our streets.” It’s really, “What is the secondary market for the globally unprecedented arms stockpile America has created?”
Oh, goody! A hearing! That’ll fix the problem. Always does.
What we need are some goddamned prosecutions around here, from the bankster-gangsters to the cops.