Mike Levin: “the danger involved in combating crime in our Nation is escalating. Police departments across the country are being…”

“the danger involved in combating crime in our Nation is escalating. Police departments across the country are being forced into a dangerous arms race with criminals and gangs. Increasingly confronted with assault rifles capable of firing up to 600 rounds per minute, law enforcement officers have been forced to carry military-style arms in order to counter such criminal firearm supremacy. Recently, tensions have increased throughout south Florida's police departments after three Miami-Dade police officers were wounded and another killed by a man using an assault weapon. In a recent interview with CNN, Sergeant Laurie Pfeil, who supervises a sheriff's road patrol in Palm Beach County, stated that, ``It's not nice we have to arm ourselves like the soldiers in Iraq. We are like soldiers. It is a war.'' Over 60 police officers have been gunned down so far this year in the United States. According to Robert Tessaro, the associate director for law enforcement relations for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, we are currently on pace to set an alltime high. ``We're having more than one officer shot and killed a week. It's just outrageous that officers are being targeted. It's something all Americans should be outraged about.'' Like many others, he lays the blame for this increase on the expiration of the assault weapons ban. ``It's different now. It's shootings on a weekly basis. Ten years ago, that just didn't happen.”