Progressive Lawmakers Push Biden to Stop Transferring Military Weapons to Cops

Congressional progressives have urged top Biden administration officials to end the transfer of military weapons to local law enforcement agencies under a program that critics say disproportionately harms communities of color.

In a letter led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), the 22 lawmakers called on Cabinet members to implement a part of a May executive order signed by President Joe Biden aimed at reforming federal policing standards.

“Police militarization has never made our communities safer,” Pressley tweeted. “It’s time to stop transferring military-grade weapons to local police.”

A provision of Executive Order 14704 requires administration agency heads to review military weapons transfers to law enforcement agencies, with an eye toward prohibiting such transfers when possible.

“Militarized law enforcement increases the prevalence of police violence without making our communities safer,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter.

According to the Policing Project at the New York University School of Law, “since its inception in 1990, the 1033 program has transferred more than $7.5 billion worth of surplus military equipment to subnational policing agencies,” over 11,000 of which have registered for the program.

Noting the disproportionate impact of police militarization on communities of color, the letter asserts that “when law enforcement has access to military equipment, they are more likely to use it.”

Widespread public concern about the 1033 program surfaced after the 2014 police killing of unarmed Black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the subsequent militarized police response to protests led by the nascent Black Lives Matter movement.

The 1033 program was in the news again during and after the 2020 racial justice protests following more police killings of Black people, including George Floyd.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.