Sound The Trumpet : The Rapid Militarization of Small Town America

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“The Rapid Militarization of Small Town America”
by Prophecy News Watch
April 23rd, 2014

37% of likely U.S. voters now fear the federal government, and an additional 17% are not sure if they should or not, according to a new survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports on April 15-16.

The survey of one thousand likely voters also revealed that 42% who own guns that are kept in their homes, fear the federal government, compared to 30% who do not keep guns at home. 52% of union members versus 35% of non-unionized voters share that fear.

One might ask, who is afraid of whom? Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Washington-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, said, "We're seeing a highly unusual amount of ammunition being bought by the federal agencies over a fairly short period of time. To be honest, I don't understand why the federal government is buying so much at this time."

"I don't believe in conspiracy theories,” he continued, “but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The amount of ammunition they're buying up far exceeds their needs. It far exceeds what they'll use — they'll never use it all."

Erich Pratt, communications director for Gun Owners of America, stated, "We realize that the House is still investigating the ammo purchases by the administration, but from what we've seen so far, most representatives don't seem alarmed.”

According to Newsmax, an impressive list of federal agencies are actively acquiring disturbingly massive quantities of ammo. Earlier this year, the U.S. Postal Service, under the heading "Assorted Small Arms Ammunition," posted this notice on its website: "The United States Postal Service intends to solicit proposals for assorted small arms ammunition. If your organization wishes to participate, you must pre-register. This message is only a notification of our intent to solicit proposals."

Just over a year ago, the Social Security Administration put in a request for 174,000 rounds of ".357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow-point" bullets.

A while back, the Department of Agriculture requested 320,000 rounds and more recently, the Department of Homeland Security caused a stir with its request for 450 million rounds. About the same time, the FBI independently pursued the acquisition of 100 million hollow-point rounds. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also requested 46,000 rounds.

Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League questioned why a weather service would need ammunition. “One just doesn't know why they're doing this," he said. "The problem is, all these agencies have their own SWAT teams, their own police departments, which is crazy.”

Theoretically, Van Cleave maintains it should be the U.S. marshals that represent the armed branch of the federal government. “Do we really need this?” he asks. Referring to the expansion of police forces throughout all levels of government, Van Cleave continues, “That was something our Founding Fathers did not like and we should all be concerned about."

During Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s standoff, many Americans were shocked to see TV images of an armed-to-the-teeth paramilitary wing of the BLM deployed around Bundy’s ranch. According to the National Review, they shouldn’t be. Many federal agencies now have Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams to expand the definition of their missions.

Americans can accept that the Secret Service and the Bureau of Prisons have them. But it becomes more controversial when we discover that the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also have SWAT units.

The worrying trend towards militarization of our federal agencies is well under way, not to mention local police forces.

In his 2013 book entitled Rise of the Warrior Cop, journalist Radley Balko writes, “The war on drugs and, more recently, post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts have created a new figure on the U.S. scene: the warrior cop — armed to the teeth, ready to deal harshly with targeted wrongdoers, and a growing threat to familiar American liberties.”

As these paramilitary federal SWAT teams proliferate, so do the abuses that have little to do with drugs or terrorism. Many of the raids these units conduct are against harmless, often innocent Americans typically accused civil or administrative violations that are non-violent.

In June of 2011 for example, Kenneth Wright of Stockton, California was “visited” by a SWAT team from the U.S. Department of Education. At 6:00 a.m., agents busted down the door at his home, dragged him outside in his boxer shorts and handcuffed him. His three children (ages 3, 7, and 11) were placed in a police car for two hours while his home was searched, allegedly to uncover information on Wright’s estranged wife Michelle, who was suspected of college financial-aid fraud but who had not been living with him.

A SWAT team from the Food and Drug Administration raided the farm of Dan Allgyer of Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2010. His crime? Shipping unpasteurized milk across state lines to a cooperative of young women with children in Washington, D.C., called Grass Fed on the Hill. Although raw milk can be sold in Pennsylvania, it is illegal to transport it across state lines. The SWAT raid subsequently forced Allgyer to close down his business.

The feds have encouraged local police departments to purchase surplus military hardware and form their own SWAT units since 9/11, issuing an abundance of homeland-security grants. By 2005, at least 80% of towns with a population ranging between 25,000 and 50,000 people had their own SWAT team. National Review reports that the number of raids conducted by local police SWAT teams has increased from 3,000 per year in the 1980s to over 50,000 per year today.

Even the tiniest towns in America have acquired an MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected armored personnel vehicle), which are typically used for war!

For the past few years, the Pentagon has been dispersing these vehicles to police departments across the country, offering no training on their use. That’s rather peculiar, since these bulky war machines are designed for use on a battlefield and have little real application in domestic police work.

The trend toward more militarized domestic police forces is clear, and it’s been happening since the early 1980s.

In the Washington Post’s “The Watch” – an opinion blog on civil liberties and the justice system – Radley Balko (author) provides a short and incomplete list of 21 small towns that have recently required an MRAP from the Defense Department. All but one have populations ranging from 12,000 to 91,000, with the leading ‘tiniest town’ contender so far being Dundee, Michigan, which boasts a population of a mere 3,900 people.

In a previous PNW article published in February, we highlighted that in early 2014, the resilient theme of internment camps in America resurfaced once again—with vigor—when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, speaking to a class of law students at the University of Hawaii law school in Honolulu, stated that the nation’s highest court was wrong to have upheld the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II but that he would expect a similar ruling in the event of a future conflict.

A retired Army Colonel in 2012 penned an academic study about the future use of the military as a peacekeeping force within the U.S., incorporating a shocking scenario in which the U.S. Army attempts to restore order in a town that has been seized by Tea Party “insurrectionists”.

A leaked U.S. Army manual disclosed plans for “Civil Disturbance Operations” to be used during periods of mass civil unrest in America, where troops are deployed domestically to quell riots, confiscate firearms and even kill Americans.

Additionally, the manual describes how prisoners will be processed through temporary internment camps under the guidance of U.S. Army FM 3-19.40 Internment/Resettlement Operations, with the intent of “reeducating” internees so they develop an “appreciation of U.S. policies” while they are incarcerated in prison camps on U.S. soil.

We also reported in a March PNW article that Americans now believe police are overstepping their bounds, both morally and constitutionally, as many departments have transformed themselves into soldier-like special-ops mercenaries, wearing black tactical pants, combat boots, black Under Armour brand shirts, dark ballistic eye protection, and black beanies or skull caps. They seem to be dressing more to prepare for a firefight with insurgents than to do public service duties such as helping someone with a flat tire, assist in a car accident, or writing a speeding ticket.

What exactly is the federal government preparing for? And why are they going to such great lengths to fortify small town law enforcement all over the country with SWAT units and rugged battlefield artillery vehicles? What plans are about to be implemented by the U.S. government that it believes will cause a grand scale uprising of violence and anger, enough to warrant the kind of internal military build-up we’re witnessing now that was once reserved for foreign archenemies of the U.S.?

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13