The Nebraska State Patrol Light Armored Vehicle LAV 150, one of the hundreds of armored vehicles the Pentagon has passed along to local and state police agencies.

The Nebraska State Patrol Light Armored Vehicle LAV 150, one of the hundreds of armored vehicles the Pentagon has passed along to local and state police agencies.

Rep. Hank Johnson sent a “Dear Colleague” letter Thursday morning alerting lawmakers that he is putting forward the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act. The action comes in the wake of a policeman shooting an unarmed black man that has created an increasingly tense relationship between the police and the city’s largely African-American population. The response of local police, including the use of tear gas on protesters, has been criticized as overly aggressive. “Our main streets should be a place for business, families, and relaxation, not tanks and M16s,” Johnson wrote. “Unfortunately, due to a Department of Defense (DOD) Program that transfers surplus DOD equipment to state and local law enforcement, our local police are quickly beginning to resemble paramilitary forces.” Further, Johnson said the legislation would “end the free transfers of certain aggressive military equipment to local law enforcement and ensure that all equipment can be accounted for."

As a consequence of the war zone police have turned Ferguson, Missouri, into during the past few days, Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia's 4th Congressional District will introduce a bill to end the federal government's program of providing billions of dollars worth of military equipment free to local police. Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman report The program began as an amendment to the 1996 military spending bill. It's called "1033" for the section of the bill where it is included. It was meant at first to supply basic needs. After the 9/11 attacks and the massive spending by the Pentagon to respond, the military soon had massive amounts of surplus war material. And that meant more to give away. Thanks to 1033, local police agencies—some serving populations as small as 5,000—now have armored vehicles, machine guns, night-vision equipment, tactical vests and bullet-resistant shields, ballistic helmets, silencers, and aircrafts, which includes a pilotless drone in Montgomery County, Texas. Police departments began to look more like invading armies than units designed to serve and protect, as if they were putting down insurrection in Fallujah as opposed to supposedly keeping the peace in Ferguson.

As a consequence, police began acting ever more like invading armies, too. Vast numbers of military-style raids took place. One report cited by Bill Moyers & Co. counted 80,000 of these. When Occupy Wall Street and sister organizations emerged three years ago, some militarized police departments dressed in riot gear and camouflage and deployed aggressive tactics including tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets to control protesters.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which supports Johnson's proposed legislation, published a 97-page report in June this year: "War Comes Home—The Excessive Militarization of American Policing."

You can read about it below the orange tendrils of tear gas smoke.