Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlewoman for organizing this Special Order so that we can talk about many aspects of the criminal justice system. You have asked us to talk about the militarization of communities, also what we can do to improve policing and the problem of mass incarceration. On the term of militarizing the communities, there was an amendment offered a few months ago that would have prevented the Department of Defense from giving local police departments certain military equipment. I think it is important to read what was actually in the legislation because some thought that handguns and ammunition was what we were talking about. Actually, the amendment goes into great length specifically about what would be prohibited if that amendment passed to help reduce the militarization of our communities. The Department of Defense has a program where they will give surplus equipment to local communities, and the limitation was that none of these transfers could include aircraft, including drones; armored vehicles; grenade launchers; silencers; toxicological agents, including chemical agents and biological agents; launch vehicles; guided missiles; ballistic missiles; rockets; torpedoes; bombs; mines; or nuclear weapons. Those are the only things that would be barred if this amendment had passed, not handguns and ammunition or other things that local police departments could actually use. But what local police department needs nuclear weapons or torpedoes?…”