Sen. Toomey Aims to Lift Restrictions on Pentagon Arming Police

In mid-May, facing growing public complaints about the militarization of local police forces, President Obama signed an executive order that would ban the Pentagon from transferring certain “inappropriate” military gear, notably grenade launchers and bayonets, to police departments.

Because apparently anything with the word military or any derivatives is going to have support from someone on the Hill, Sen. Pat Toomey (R – PA) today announced a bill aiming to block the president from making any restrictions at all on the transfers.

Toomey complained in an open letter that the White House was weighing the lives of police against the public backlash against militarization and police crackdowns on dissent, insisting the government should never even consider the idea that police are causing unrest through their tactics.

Toomey in particular objected to the banning of certain armored military vehicles from usage except under “certain circumstances.” The ban signed by the White House was related only to vehicles with tank treads.

Interestingly, though Toomey insisted he had no objection to the ban on bayonets, he is insisting on removing all restrictions, including those on bayonets provided to police forces.

19 thoughts on “Sen. Toomey Aims to Lift Restrictions on Pentagon Arming Police”

  1. He must be running for re-election…gotta get that police vote, ya know.

    1. He is running again in 2016. Toomey, like most Repubs, wants to go to war against Iran for Israel's sake. But, PA also has a Democrat Senator, Bob Casey, who is just as much pro-war and wedded to Israel as Toomey.

  2. Republicans are pure evil…..or at least marginally more evil than the Democrats.

  3. May the bird of paradise fly up his nose, may an elephant caress him on his toes, May his wife get
    big runners in her hose., May the bird of paradise fly up his nose.

    1. Don't insult drunken sailors…at least they're throwing away their own money.

  4. Toomey must be running for re election. I hope he loses. He'll probably be there until he dies.

    1. I'm from PA. Toomey barely won the last time against a retired admiral, Joe Sestak, who ran as the peace candidate. He is certainly beatable in majority Democrat PA. Sestak wants another crack at him.

  5. In Toomey's letter he says "almost all officers are upstanding" and avoid the use of force at all costs. What planet is this dude living on? Why didn't he say, "the police have never kicked down the doors of MY country club…"

    Cops in this country are nothing but tools to protect the ruling class of which Toomey is a member…and you can interpret "member" however you wish.

  6. Toomy & John McManchurian both need to go.

    People are upset about much more than just the Ferguson & other shootings by cops in recent headlines. Fringe media fails to also mention the long running police abuse of [1] asset forfeiture & [2] botched drug "OOOOOPPS! We got the wrong address again!!" drug raids where innocent people are killed & nothing happens to the cops who killed those innocent people.

    Look 1 & 2 up. If you are not up to date, what you find will shock ya. It should. Then there is the general 'run of the mill' abuse by cops that goes on daily.

    The guy killed for selling loose cigarettes & other recent police abuses that made national headlines are just the tip of the iceberg. Some cops & police agencies have been rampaging for years. Abusive out of order cops are very seldom are prosecuted, so they just keep on trucking over the public…

    Not every cop is a problem to society. But those who sit by saying nothing are also part of the problem. AND the solution, IF they stand up & speak out for what's right, true, fair & honest.

    SamFox

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