The police have become militarized because of the War on (some) Drugs. The Feds passed out all sorts of military surplus crap in the name of fighting (some) drugs.

Of course, since it turns out that he had a “crime gun”, nobody is going to get upset by this. What we will hear, if anything, is that if he wasn’t doing anything wrong, he wouldn’t have anything to worry about. This is, of course, the same line that the Soviet Communists used and the German Nazi’s. But that’s okay, we’re a liberal society, not one of them danged commie or nazi countries.

The police became paramilitary organizations because of the War on (some) Drugs. The Feds passed out all sorts of military surplus equipment (everything from BDUs to M-16s to even M113 APCs) so the cops to fight the Drug War.