米国防総省、警察に余剰武器を無償譲渡　デモに配備

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米国の警察は2週間前、全土に広がった反人種差別デモが行われている通りに、完全武装した迷彩服を着た人員、対地雷装甲車、殺傷力の高い武器を配備した。多くの人の目には、軍隊のように見えただろう。（写真は米ミネソタ州ミネアポリスで、装甲車の前に立つ警察官ら）
　これは偶然ではない。米国防総省は何年も、余った軍事品を警察に無償で渡してきた。警察は大規模な署も小規模な署も、それを喜んで受け取っている。
　批評家はそうした光景は警察の総合的軍事化の一環だとし、５月２５日にミネソタ州ミネアポリスで手錠を掛けられた黒人男性ジョージ・フロイドさんが、警察の拘束中に死亡した事件をきっかけに全米に広がった反人種差別デモを激化させたと指摘している。

■小さな町の警察も武装化
　抗議活動がミネアポリスで始まると、同警察は中東の紛争地域の方が似合いそうな装甲車を配備した。
　他の大都市だけではなく小さな町の警察さえもそうした装備を持っている。
　人口１万６０００人のオクラホマ州エイダにある署員１０人（うち２人はパートタイム）の警察は、何年もかけて３４丁のＭ１６ライフルを備蓄した後、２０１９年７月に対地雷装甲車を手に入れた。
　多くの人が自分用の銃を持ち、学校での銃乱射に悩む米国では、文教地区でさえ国防総省の支給する軍事品を受け取っている。
　フロリダ州パナマシティー・ベイ地区の４７の学校では、２０１２年と２０１３年に２７丁ものアサルトライフルと２台の対地雷装甲車を確保した。

■トランプ氏が再開
　国防総省の余剰武器配布プログラム「１０３３」は長年続いている。
　米連邦議会によると、米軍は１９９７年から拳銃やヘリコプター、装甲車両など約８６億ドル（約９２００億円）相当の中古・新品の軍事品を、８０００を超える連邦、部族、地方警察に譲渡してきた。
　２０１５年、バラク・オバマ大統領（当時）は同プログラムを厳しく制限したが、後任であるドナルド・トランプ大統領は２０１７年に元通りに復活させた。「１０３３」によって、その年だけでも約５億個の軍事品が国内の警察に譲渡された。
　しかし、最近の抗議デモによって、このプログラムを中止にしようとする動きが復活している。
　民主党員を中心とする下院議員約２００人は６月上旬、同プログラムでの銃、弾薬、手りゅう弾、爆発物、特定車両、ドローンなどの武器譲渡を制限する法案を提出した。
　一方上院では、警察の過剰武装と長年闘ってきた民主党のブライアン・シャーツ議員が同様の法案を準備している。同氏は米紙ニューヨーク・タイムズに、「多くの警察がまるで戦争に行くかのような装備を持っているのは明らかで、平和の維持の観点からいうとうまく機能していない」と語った。
　「国防総省が余剰兵器を持っているからといって、それを有効活用しなければならないというわけではない」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/06/19-15:48）

When US police flooded the streets around the country to confront protesters two weeks ago, for many it appeared like the army had deployed, with camouflage uniforms and combat gear, heavily armored anti-mine vehicles, and high-powered assault weapons.
That's not by accident. For years the US Defense Department has been handing its surplus equipment over for free to police departments -- and the departments, large and small, have revelled in it.
Critics say it has been part of the overall militarization of the police, and helped fuel mass nationwide demonstrations against police abuse and deadly tactics that began after the May 25 killing of a handcuffed African American, George Floyd, by a Minneapolis police officer.
- Small-town police armed for war -
As soon as protests began in Minneapolis, the city's troubled police department rolled out armored vehicles appearing more suited to Middle East battlefields.
Other large cities have them too, but also small towns.
In 2013 police in Flathead County, Montana, which has 90,000 residents nestled near the scenic Glacier National Park, received a landmine-resistant armored vehicle, one year after taking delivery of a military transport.
The 10-person (two only part-time) police department in Ada, Oklahoma, population 16,000, got their mine-resistant armored car in July 2019, after stockpiling 34 M-16 assault rifles over the years.
In a country where many people have their own guns and where schools have suffered mass shootings, even local education districts are taking advantage of the Pentagon's handouts.
The 47 primary and secondary schools of the Bay District in Panama City, Florida acquired no less than 27 assault rifles and two mine-resistant armored vehicles in 2012 and 2013.
- Trump restarted giveaway -
The 1033 Pentagon surplus program has existed for years.
Since 1997, the US military has distributed used and new equipment ranging from handguns to helicopters to armored vehicles, worth around $8.6 billion, to more than 8,000 federal, tribal and local police forces, according to the US Congress.
In 2015 President Barack Obama severely limited the program, but his successor Donald Trump restored it in 2017.
That year alone, some 500 million pieces of military equipment were transferred to the country's police services under the 1033 program.
But the recent anti-police protests have recharged efforts to stop it.
This week around 200 lawmakers in Congress, mostly Democrats, sponsored a bill, the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act, to again reel in the program.
The bill, in the House of Representatives, would strictly limit the transfer of guns, ammunition, grenades, explosives, certain kinds of vehicles, and drones and other aircraft designed for the battlefield.
A parallel bill is being prepared in the Senate, pushed by Democrat Brian Schatz, who has fought against over-arming the police for years.
It is clear that many police departments are being outfitted as if they are going to war, and it is not working in terms of maintaining the peace, Schatz told The New York Times.
Just because the Department of Defense has excess weaponry doesn't mean it will be put to good use.
Schatz and Republican Senator Rand Paul attempted to push through a similar law in 2014, after the first publication of details of the 1033 program, amid the riots over police brutality against African-Americans in Ferguson, Missouri.
The protests and riots that broke out over the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown were met by police officers carrying assault rifles and driving armored cars they got from the Pentagon.