Schools Acquire Grenade Launchers, MRAPs and Other Military Equipment - What Could Possibly Go Wrong

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/schools-acquire-grenade-launchers-mraps-and-other-military-equipment-what-could



Saying they never know when a hostage-taker or shooter could strike, more than 20 school districts across the county have been acquiring surplus military equipment from the Pentagon, including armored personnel carriers, high-powered rifles and other weaponry, according to a handful of press accounts.

The school districts and campus security forces range in size from small Saddleback College in southern California, whose nine-member squad received a MRAP—mine resistant ambush protected—vehicle, their college newspaper reported, to Los Angeles Unified School District, which received 61 M16 assault rifles, three grenade launchers and one MRAP, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. San Diego’s school district also requested and received an MRAP. In Edinburg, Texas, the district has its own SWAT team, according to The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Texas Appleseed, a legal advocacy group, which tried to conduct a national survey and counted more than 20 districts in eight states taking the free weaponry.

“It is frankly difficult to imagine how a grenade launcher, or any of these items, could be safely used in any scenario involving schools,” the civil rights groups wrote in a letter to the federal program’s administrators, noting that there’s a big difference between prudent policing and paramilitary excesses. “Taxpayer dollars should be steered away from investments in increased law enforcement and militarization of schools and towards supporting solutions that address the root causes of school safety concerns and provide students with the services and supports they need to succeed.”

“Undoubtedly, Saddleback’s new MRAP will strike fear into the hearts of the countless drug dealers and terrorists that make up the student body at Saddleback,” the Daily Titan, the student paper editorialized. “The campus police officers will also be safer than ever from any stray frisbees or overzealous Greenpeace volunteers. Despite the obvious benefits of having a 38,000-pound war machine on a community college campus, the effectiveness and need for such a vehicle is certainly questionable.”

[ladjf]

1. Sounds like an episode in Mad Magazine. nt

[GitRDun]

2. IMO

the only non-federal groups who should be able to apply for that type of equipment are national guards.

Training programs can be initiated so you don't have people pointing weapons of war at ordinary citizens. They can also be trained on WHEN this equipment should be allowed to even be present on a scene..one thing I am certain that Ferguson demonstrated is that police in fact heighten a dangerous situation when they present a militarized force.

I believe only a governor can call out the National Guard, so some racist small town sheriff can't abuse his own citizens with weapons of war. State legislators can even put legislation out there as to when this specialized equipment can appear on the streets.

I can see there might be a reasonable use for having that equipment available regionally (large scale terror attack, converting an MRAP to an ambulance that can enter and evacuate wounded from a dangerous scene (gun fight), etc.), but certainly not locally.

There does not seem to be any notion of common sense applied to these programs.

[hootinholler]

3. If the military can afford give away all this gear

Why aren't we cutting that budget?