“Does this vehicle serve to protect protesters exercising their First Amendment right? Will the Sheriff deploy this armored beast to aide in citizens wishing to vote, or perhaps, to shelter his fellow Oklahomans who decide to use their Second Amendment right? .” Kevin Hayden TruthisTreason.net
Military Vehicles for a Military Force
Sheriff Chris West Protects your Freedoms….?
Chris West was Under Sheriff when the current Sheriff Randal Edwards bought a 25 ton armored vehicle and a military Humvee, placing signage on both proclaiming the property of Canadian County Sheriff Department and “Protecting Your Constitutional Rights.
We aren’t certain how a 50,000 pound vehicle designed to seat five passengers and protect them from battle rifle fire, rocked propelled grenades, and road side bombs is going to be used in rural Canadian County much less how it is going to help protect our Constitutional rights.
An article written by Kevin Hayden, a former New Orleans police officer and a survivor of the Hurricane Katrina collapse lays out the case against current Sheriff Chris West for his part in procuring military equipment that can be used to quell demonstrations in a rural area that likely has never had a demonstration since the beginning of recorded history .
Hayden makes the case that while there might be uses for a RPG proof war wagon capable of driving through buildings while holding five heavily armed soldiers he can’t think of a single Constitutional right that might be maintained by using a bomb proof vehicle. Perhaps Sheriff West is planning on using the sniper platform on the MRAP to assassinate an out of control judge after driving through the courthouse?
Police departments like to justify the purchase and maintenance of these 25 ton vehicles by using them for SWAT team raids to bust pot users or to quell public demonstrations. As for disaster work the far more common and far less expensive to maintain M35 military cargo truck has better off road ground clearance and triple the carrying capacity and isn’t likely to collapse culverts and small bridges.