What could possibly go wrong with this idea?
A Louisiana sheriff plans to arm volunteers with shotguns, riot shields, batons, and a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on a “war wagon,” as part of “Operation Exodus,” a program to provide security in the event of a terrorist attack or civic unrest. “It’s a calling,” he says.
The office of Sheriff Larry Deen of Bossier Parish, near Shreveport in the northwest part of the state, last month selected for the program 200 local residents — mostly ex-law-enforcement personnel — and began training them in “defensive techniques in the event of a struggle,” reports the Shreveport Times. The plan calls for the new recruits to be sent to protect food from grocery stores, gas from gas stations, and other crucial local resources, should the situation demand it.
A press release from Deen’s office announcing the program declared that “recent terror threats” had made clear that “homegrown terrorists are in our midst.” It continued: “With the easy accessibility of the internet, it is quite possible that these local and international terrorists can form a national or multiple location attack on our nation at any given moment.”
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In a video of the first training session, posted on the sheriff’s office’s website, the recruits — almost all white and male, and many appearing to be past middle-age — gamely practice their hand-to-hand combat techniques:
Seriously? Seriously?