How, on God's green earth, did we get HERE?
I was at a friend's hose watching retro TV. One Adam Twelve from the late '60s/early '70s was on. The two officers were wearing standard blue oxford shirt type uniforms and they carried handcuffs, a nightstick and a standard Issue .38 police special revolver. What we called a 'six shooter'.
Today's patrol officer often wears body armor and carries a tactical baton, taser, pepper spray, a semi auto gun with 15 round magazine, tactical flashlight and a window punch to break car windows. In the trunk is an AR-15 just in case.
What happened between that charming cop show and now? In a greatly simplified version, this happened . . .
The country was trending toward more urbanization and traditional hunting was going away as a marketplace for guns.
Then the NRA, an organization formed to promote gun safety and marksmanship, was overtaken in a coup by the gun industry. That shifted the organization's focus to self defense. Self defense requires a different kind of gun, one designed for lethality against human beings. These semi automatic guns had 10-15 round magazines that could be reloaded in seconds. New organizations formed; Shooting Sports Foundation, Gun Owners of America and a myriad of paramilitary 'militias'. A whole new gun industry and lobby came into existence.
At the same time, the AR-15 (the prototype for the military M-16) and the AK-47 (a semi auto version of Russia's military weapon) were introduced for civilian sales. The NRA fabricated a new name for these weapons of war; 'modern sporting rifles'.*
Then the gun industry launched a new marketing philosophy. Gone were the ads about the great outdoors and hunting for game, replaced with an emphasis on protection, military imagery and of course scantily clad young women with clothing in dis-array.
A brilliant marketing move. White America is afraid of the 'other' with a gun and feeling impotent. They buy guns. Now there are more guns to be afraid of so they buy more guns which means there are more people with guns to be afraid of so they buy MORE guns. And these guns are far more lethal by design than the old six shooter. Almost as good as tobacco: make an addictive product cool and build a loyal customer base.
This sparked an arms race. Civilians have this armament, so police need it too. Police have it so civilians think it's the preferred defense product. Now police have SWAT squads, MRAP military vehicles, snipers and wear camo with gas masks and look more like a deployment to a combat zone in a third world country than someone to serve and protect.
I guess it's the same old story. Follow the money.
* Gunners will deny that the 'modern sporting rifles' are military grade and say assault weapon is a made up word. That is utter bullshit. The AR-15 IS THE PROTOTYPE developed for a Pentagon request for quote to replace the M-14. The AK-47 available for sale is Identical to the AK-47 designed by Kalishnakov for the Soviet army sold in semi auto form for civilians. The term assault weapon was coined in WWII to describe smaller, high fire rate sub machine guns introduced by the German army. It was the term used by Eugene Stoner to describe his AR-15. Who better to name a gun than the one who designed it? Ask any gunner and they'll tell you there is no gun problem. Gun deaths are far fewer than in the '90s. Crime is at an all time low. Both are true and form the kernel of truth in which to wrap the lie. They ignore that since 2014 gun deaths have risen by as much as 20% per year. EVERY YEAR. And while overall crime is down, homicides are up dramatically in all major cities. So, to the gunners promulgating this line of propaganda, I say you're full of shit and you know it.
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If you can imagine that.
Adam-12 was a white people television fantasy.
I was struck by how much equipment he was festooned with, simply to go in and have breakfast in a restaruant. Yes, he was on break and looked armed to the teeth. He had to be carrying 30 pounds of gear, at least, and that was without 'tactical armor.' Not sure if he was wearing a bullet-proof vest, but he did have a tactical vest with flashlight, etc. He had both his service weapon-with extended mag- and a taser.
That was just a local city cop from a mid-sized city, hardly an urban commando.
My first reaction was "holy fuck! How are people not rioting in the streets?" 
