Storm Trooper Watch: "People are afraid to call the sheriffs office, because they fear them" photo and video

by Monica Davis

What happens when our police departments are so militarized, so entranced by a gung ho, them or us mentality, that the people they serve and protect become insurgents, enemies, or “them?”

What happens when a multibillion dollar gun and entertainment industry targets kids? Guns, bullying and American gun culture often brings kids into contact with militarized cops, rapacious gang culture and injury or death.  And cops find themselves in an urban war full of twitchy kids, many of whom are armed–or could be.

Increasingly, mine sweepers roll down our streets (MRAPS), military grade hardware becomes part of the police department’s arsenal, and children get shot down like rabid dogs for having play guns which are  so realistic cops are shooting at kids armed with toys. Sometimes the guns aren’t toys. Sometimes they are real.

It’s the worse of both world, and the violence seems to be increasing. It’s been said that putting a gun in a kid’s hands makes him as dangerous as an armed adult. Bullets don’t care if an adult or kid fires the gun. The bullet still flies out of the barrel and hits something–human or not.  

In the US, thousands of armed kids in the nation shoot for fun, pleasure, or self defense, sometimes in tragic ways. It’s all part of a  billion dollar gun culture that has become a major threat to cops, citizens and criminals. Police agencies are forting up, militarizing and circling the wagons against armed citizens–even if those citizens are kids.

Many of these kids are playing with real guns, just like they are toys. Marketing real and play guns to kids is big business.  Big profits for gun manufacturers, tragedy for a lot of families and police officers. What happens when cops have to shoot some of these armed kids? 

An article in the daily Press Democrat of 2011 shows a photo of a policeman handing a real automatic weapon to a young boy. “It bothers me that he’s reaching for that gun like it’s a toy,” commented Santa Rosa City Council member Gary Wysocky. MOREHERE

Militarized cops have become a hostile force to many communities. So much so, that citizens fear calling the cops. They fear what might happen if some of these Darth Vader storm troopers show up on their doorsteps. So, we have militarized cops on the one hand, and armed kids and adults on the other. 

This is a toxic mix of weapons, gung ho mentality and death–and if it’s not already in your neighborhood, it’s coming to a place near you soon.