OUTLAWING TRANSFER OF MILITARY WEAPONS TO LOCAL POLICE:

Voting 51 for and 49 against, the Senate on July 21 failed to reach 60 votes needed to adopt an amendment to S 4049 (above) that would permanently outlaw the U.S. military’s transfer of combat-level weapons and equipment to local police at no cost. The untransferable items would include bayonets, tear gas, tanks, armed drones, grenade launchers and explosives. But police departments could continue to receive non-lethal items such as highwater vehicles, cold-weather gear, computers, first-aid kits and flashlights under what is called the “1033 Program.”

Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said, “The last month has made clear that weapons of war don’t belong in police departments. … We saw the terrifying images of police in military gear storming the streets, combat vehicles rumbling down city blocks, rounds and rounds of tear gas shot at peaceful protesters, frequently without warning and often unprovoked. … Our communities are not battlefields. The American people are not enemy combatants.”

James Inhofe, R-Okla., called the program “an effective use of taxpayers’ money” which, since 1990, has recycled more than $7 billion worth of vehicles, desks, boots, computers and other items to local police. “This is military equipment that the military no longer needs and that these [localities] would be purchasing anyway. The equipment is always demilitarized so that it is appropriate for public-safety use.”

A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.

ARKANSAS

Voting no: Cotton, Boozman

TEXAS

Voting no: Cornyn, Cruz