It started way before that
I have to think it really started as a response to the riots & protests in the late 60s.
Here's a little anecdote: I rode with a friend in his piece of crap Fiat to the Keys over spring break in 1980. We broke down on a Sunday in Georgia and miraculously found a small garage open with a mechanic who knew about Fiats (fuel pump fuse located on the floorboard under the damn brake pedal). While we were standing around for the mechanic to show up at the garage, the local cop (a true stereotype Southern cop) showed up, stuck his head in the window to check things out (open view and all) and once he was satisfied we were ok - and having nothing better to do, he hung around to shoot the shit while the mechanic worked on the car, and he was a chatty guy. I don't remember how we got on the subject, but it turned out that some years prior, the Feds sent this small-town PD a bunch of military hardware, including submachine guns - no training, of course, just the guns and ammo. He claimed they didn't request the stuff and was pretty vague on what it was supposed to be used for. Can't remember the other stuff they got; submachine guns were what really stuck in my mind.
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In response to this post by 757)
Posted: 04/14/2017 at 4:20PM