A new executive order from the Obama administration aims at “demilitarizing” police forces across the country. The law will prevent local police from getting “certain kinds of military equipment such as grenade launchers, high-caliber weapons and bayonets” from federal agencies, according to CNN. The move is a reaction to tactics — and weapons — used to stunt violent protests in Ferguson, Missouri, last year.
The police will still be able to go to private sellers for this equipment, like regular citizens — including criminals — do. Currently local police can get weaponry from the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and the Justice Department. Now there will be no federal help, or tracking for that matter. Police in Waco, Texas, who are on high alert after a motorcycle gang war killed nine their over the weekend, don’t look like they will cease buying weapons.
