Trump's Decision to Give Military Weapons to Police Slammed as 'Defying Logic'

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US President Donald Trump's plan to provide police departments with military equipment "defies logic" at a time when the nation faces an epidemic of police brutality especially against people within the black community, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union Kanya Bennett said in a statement on Monday.

"We have an epidemic in the United States of police using excessive force, particularly against people of color, with injuries and deaths mounting. It defies logic to arm the police with weapons of war — grenade launchers, high-caliber assault weapons, and more — but that’s precisely what President Trump and Attorney General [Jeff] Sessions have decided to do," Bennett said.

Sessions earlier on Monday announced that Trump will issue an executive order allowing the federal government to give police departments certain military equipment — such as grenade launchers, high-caliber weapons and armored vehicles — through the Department of Defense 1033 program and other federal programs.

Bennet said the order was particularly questionable just three years after the country witnessed a highly militarized, violent crackdown by police on protesters in Ferguson, Missouri.

Former President Barack Obama placed limits on the federal government's provision of military equipment to US police in the wake of the violence.