Ah yeah, I remember giving up my rights as a citizen in 1996 when Thomas Hamilton outgunned a bunch of children in a primary school

We seem to be doing just fine here without our rights, oddly enough, along with the rest of modernity

I think having some higher power weapons for law enforcement in case it ever comes to that is (while related) a different problem than police militarization. I think the best bet would to be have specialized units for those extreme cases they could reasonably deploy in a timely/effective manner. Every cop having access to surplus military gear is a huge problem and I wish weren’t to a point where having specific units was even a necessity.

Pointing out the likely catalyst that triggered all of the police militarization makes me a bootlicker?

Well that’s one way to missinterpret things!