(Click on pic to see full size) It’s not very reassuring that our officers will be using these types of targets to get conditioned to shooting non-traditional threats. Do we really need this? A police officer of any sort (any agency) relies on judgement, not knee jerk reactions and to do otherwise is a public threat. So, if the point of these targets is to cause officers to shoot without hesitation at any perceived threat (and this is stated in the ads) then we’re headed down a very dangerous path.
We have targets clearly depicting everyday [white] Americans. This not only looks suspicious on a number of levels, but it has racist overtones. Don’t get me wrong, these targets are offensive no matter what color person might be in them. That’s absolutely my first concern, these targets are offensive and the agenda is suspicious, but just imagine for a moment if everyone of these targets was a black person! Holy cow, the NAACP would be all over this. And likely there would be community-wide protests from coast to coast by black and whites alike and they would be right to protest…heck, I would join them! I hope you understand that I’m just trying to point out a double standard from by the far left. No Americans ought to be made into targets and that’s the bottom line!
This government contractor thinks it’s safe to use white Americans as targets because it will be more politically correct than using minorities. And what’s up with using kids and women? Are pregnant women and teenage girls with a child some kind of new and growing threat to national security? Do our security people really need to practice shooting them?
Something wrong is happening in this country and we need to question it. I think it began when government used 9-11 to grow fear and use ways to encroach on our Constitution. It became much worse when Obama took over, in particular, using presidential orders almost every week to by-pass the safeguards in Congress. George Bush is not off the hook either, after all he created the DHS that is now buying these American targets.
The news stories say this contractor received several million dollars from DHS to procure the lifelike targets. DHS has spent billions of our tax dollars under the pretext of making us more secure. Do these targets make you feel secure? I think the DHS has done much more to make Americans feel less secure… and how could it be otherwise, we seem to be transitioning to a police state.
On a related story: We’ve known for quite some time that large purchases of ammunition by DHS has created shortages of sporting ammo and a backlog for civilian-orders that must wait to be filled. Certain kinds of ammo (.223 and .40 cal) is for the first time in short supply. And now we have these new targets (see above pictures), oh great….
Gosh, will the next “targets” be Tea Party folks?
Indeed, it is a travesty when the aggressive police state turns its sights on white people.
Chris we have more in agreement here than disagreement. Points well made about Obama, I’m glad that you are noticing.
OK, that was snarky, I admit. I mostly agree with you, Jack, and I am glad to see a conservative questioning the aggressive “national security” policies we’ve seen since the Bush administration.
Obama promised to turn this around, but he has only strengthened the federal government’s power to arrest and even assassinate American citizens. George Bush may have been the pioneer in indefinite detention, but Obama has signed this unconstitutional practice into law. Not only has he failed to close Guantanamo, he has actually strengthened the legal pretense that justifies its existence.
If the Tea Party focused more on these violations of liberty, instead of on preserving non-existent rights such as the right of corporations to pay little to no taxes, I might take their “constitutionalist” stand more seriously.
I think this order was cancelled (temporarily?) once it caught the attention of the internet but it certainly invites questions.
From my perspective the character and intent of those in charge is the real point of contention. Those who think “there is no bad guy…there is no good guy” need not bother reading further. They can’t tell the difference.
Long before Homeland Security was established we had the activities of Janet Reno and Eric Holder under Clinton. Does anyone remember their attitude and posture toward American citizens? Ruby Ridge, Waco, and…Elian Gonzales.
You can add to that list of suspicious, illegal incidents the OC bombing under Clinton and Fast and Furious under Obama.
This bunch is up to its ears in corruption and no friend to the American people or our Constitution. Their ideology runs counter to our freedoms and rights and hopefully one day the depth of their corruption will be revealed.
Does anyone have any information about similar incidents under GWB…if so, and if it can be shown that he actually used his power against American citizens with corrupt intent I will gladly add my condemnation to his leadership.
We really are in trouble when so many of us are incapable of discerning character and ideological differences that make all the difference. America (the idea) is under attack not only from enemies without but from enemies within. Let us at least attempt to know the difference.
The huge purchase of Ammo by our government is another curiosity especially when a story like the following surfaces:
Curious happenings in the USA.
Tina, I am not a alarmist ,nor do I see things behind every door. However, given this Presidents policy of deliberate misinformation, you really have to think about what is this administration up to or planning for.