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Every Weapon, Armored Truck, and Plane the Pentagon Gave To Local Police

Posted by samzenpus on from the going-down-the-list dept.

v3rgEz writes You may have heard that the image-conscious Los Angeles Unified School District chose to return the grenade launchers it received from the Defense Department's surplus equipment program. You probably have not heard about some of the more obscure beneficiaries of the Pentagon giveaway, but now you can after MuckRock got the Department of Defense to release the full database, letting anyone browse what gear their local department has received.

15 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. Why only to police? by mi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Per the Second Amendment, we all have the right to keep and bear arms. So, why are they only giving these to police? I'd like at least a token weapon (like a single pistol or rifle) for my share of taxes, that went to research, develop, and produce them...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    1. Re:Why only to police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The second best defense is making other people defend themselves first. It has always been that way.

      The first best defense is making so that no one wants to attack you to begin with. Counter-intuitively, simply declaring yourself neutral and not picking sides doesn't do that. You still have what other people want, and if you don't keep the others on the back foot, they will be coming to take it from you.

      The Swiss have defended themselves by first, being in a place no one really wants, and second, by arming every citizen. That's why their neutrality has worked.

      Belgium and the Netherlands were only successful until someone with more guns decided that those two countries were useful and ran them over.

      The US is currently maintaining a strategically defensive posture, just like it has been doing since the end of WWII.

      There are those who believe that "defense" is pulling your troops behind your borders and waiting for people to come for you. That's understandable, but simplistic. The US could do that while the oceans were barriers and not roads. We could also do that before we were interdependent on the rest of the world for resources and trade. That ship has sailed.

    2. Re:Why only to police? by mi · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Our militaty has no experience in defense (which would be done on US soil.) The olny know offense. (which is done over seas)

      A bragging Athenian once told a Spartan:

      • There are many of your soldiers lying dead around Athens!
      • But none of yours around Sparta...
      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    3. Re:Why only to police? by matbury · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The Swiss have defended themselves by first, being in a place no one really wants, and second, by arming every citizen. That's why their neutrality has worked.

      I think the Swiss stayed neutral by keeping everyone's money for them and allowing them to make secretive transactions for arms, oil, and to hide fortunes amassed by individuals in times of war (the spoils of war). Without banks like these, you can't wage wars effectively so the banking states/havens are always safe and secure.

  2. $1000 Flashlights? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And why did they give our local PD 145 flashlights worth $130K? What does a thousand-dollar flashlight even /look/ like?

    1. Re:$1000 Flashlights? by Marginal+Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      They must look pretty darn good - otherwise, the folks who would pay $1000 for a flashlight must not be too bright...

    2. Re:$1000 Flashlights? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Camouflage netting seems to be a biggy. The Anchorage, Alaska DEA got a $26,000 radar evading camo net system for some bizarre reason. Perhaps they're fighting an onslaught of radar equipped meth labs hidden in Polar Bear dens above the Arctic Circle. Who knows.

      Night vision systems are also popular. That makes sense, but boy am I jealous.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  3. Anything sold to the police should be sold... by Karmashock · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... to the people.

    This limits what you'll sell to the police because a lot of this hardware you don't want in "civilian" hands... the police ARE civilians. They are not military.

    Anything the police are able to buy, should be something the average citizen can buy.

    Pistols?
    Rifles?
    Shotguns?
    Body armor?
    Tear gas?
    Gas masks?
    Flash bangs?
    Tasers?

    All of that can be sold to civilians already. No issue there.

    Tanks?
    Machine guns?

    THAT crosses a line.

    If I can't buy a tank then I don't want to see the police using them either. Both the police and the general public must operate under the same rules.

    If police are getting out gunned by people that have automatic weapons, then we can look at that situation and see how that happened. From what I've seen, that mostly happens with the cartels if it happens at all. And in those cases, you're dealing with a failure of the border patrol etc. Regardless, you can bring in the FBI if you really want to bring some firepower down on their heads.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
    1. Re:Anything sold to the police should be sold... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Tanks for sale. Some even nearly affordable.

      Machine guns made before 1986 can easily be bought. Those made after require a class 3 FFL, which isn't impossible to get, but you have to follow the rules and it takes a while.

      As far as I know there is only 1 case of a legal machiene gun being used in a crime, and it was owned by a police officer.

    2. Re:Anything sold to the police should be sold... by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 5, Informative

      The police are under civil law, therefore they are "civilians" by the definition of the word.

      --
      Do you have ESP?
  4. $900 Flashlight? by hawguy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'd like to know what kind of Flashlights Santa Clara, CA received at $900 each. ($130K for 145 of them).

    They received a utility truck worth $47K - if they put just 53 of their flashlights in the back of the truck, they'd be worth more than the truck itself.

    What makes these flashlights worth $900?

    1. Re:$900 Flashlight? by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The 850$ kickback.

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
    2. Re:$900 Flashlight? by Dereck1701 · · Score: 3, Informative

      http://www.amazon.com/Surefire...

      Not quite there but close, some of the weapon mount flashlights are pretty expensive. I'm sure some of it is government procurement kickbacks, some of it is probably the 24 hour on call assistance military contracts demand, but the lights themselves have to be built insanely tough as well. I once bought a cheap knock off flashlight/laser combo just to try out on my shotgun. It shook itself apart before I fired the fifth round.

  5. Arming the enemy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, but why would they want to arm their enemy.

    Captcha: treaty

  6. Re:Phew by compro01 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Still, who orders a grenade launcher for a school?

    I believe grenade launchers can be used to fire canisters of tear gas.

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