<p><span style="color: #888888; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Posted on</span> <a href="http://www.nationalgunrights.org/its-getting-easier-and-easier-to-be-treated-like-a-terrorist-these-days/" title="10:08 pm" rel="bookmark" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; color: #888888; text-decoration: underline; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><span class="entry-date" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">June 14, 2011</span></a> <span class="meta-sep" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">by</span> <span class="author vcard" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.nationalgunrights.org/author/nagr-staff/" title="View all posts by NAGR Staff" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; color: #888888; text-decoration: underline; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">NAGR Staff</a></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> </span></p>
<div class="entry-content" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding-top: 12px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; clear: both; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Have you ever had student loans?</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Did you ever think that <strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">the Department of Education would send their SWAT teams in to collect on them, if you did?</strong></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">If you’re anything like me, you were probably surprised to find out that the Department of Education even has a SWAT team.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">What on earth for?</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">In this day and age of ever-increasing government intervention and militarization, even<strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">seemingly-benign agencies are training and using heavily armed agents against citizens.</strong><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><br /></strong><br />In Stockton, California this week, one such unit of “operators” — a term almost exclusively used to refer to military special operations personnel like Navy SEALs and Delta Force — was used to assault the home of a person who owed money on their student loans.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The man of the house and his children were drug out into the street in their underwear by ski-masked thugs working for the federal government.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">“They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatizing my kids,” the man said.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">And it wasn’t even him that the police were after.</strong><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><br /></strong><br />A lot of people mocked some of the statements about the so-called Patriot Act, but this story is a perfect example of how police state action can get wildly out of hand quicker than most realize.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">I mean, really, why does the Department of Education have a SWAT Team at all???</strong></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Combine this with the story of a raid on a former Marine and Iraqi combat veteran by the Pima County Sheriff’s department and we see what happens when we militarize our law enforcement agencies.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">The incident in Pima County, Arizona resulted in over 70 shots fired.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Not one of them by the man killed.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">And according to the official report, “nothing illegal” was found in his home.</strong></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">They are gaining more and more control…</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">…and they are using it.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">I need you to remember these stories when it comes time to vote.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Remember who voted for legislation like the Patriot Act.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Remember who chose to stand against things like the UN Small Arms Treaty.</strong><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><br /></strong><br />Remember who wanted to restrict the size and scope of federal government.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">And who wanted to increase it.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Do you want every agency funded by taxpayer dollars — your money — to have a SWAT Team and the authority to use it for whatever they choose?</strong></p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">I know I don’t.</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">For Liberty,</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Dudley Brown<br />Executive Director</p>
<p style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; vertical-align: middle; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">P.S. Like me, you’re probably sick of the over-militarization of our police forces and their ever-increasing use against law-abiding citizens.</strong></p>
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