by Bonnie Kristian
David Stockman’s Contra Corner
Last May, President Obama announced that the federal government would no longer be allowed to give certain types of military equipment to local police departments for use on Americans.
Of course, as Rare’s Casey Given pointed out at the time, the ban was more talk than action, as Obama’s reforms did not “apply to the vast majority of paramilitary transfers.”
For example, Obama prohibited the Pentagon from handing out firearms that are .50-caliber or higher, a rule which had exactly zero effect on the 84,258 rifles police departments received, as none of them—even the weapons designed explicitly for battle use—were .50-caliber or higher.