ACTION: Demilitarize the Police

​Schatz-Murkowski-Harris-Paul NDAA Amendment #2252 1033 Reform and Oversight
​Militarized law enforcement increases the prevalence of police violence without making communities safer. This amendment would restrict the transfer of the most militaristic equipment to law enforcement—including bayonets, grenades, asphyxiating gases, and high-caliber munitions—without prohibiting other equipment needed to assist law enforcement with carrying out their mission to protect and serve. 

Learn More

---

Sample LETTER TEXT:
As your constituent, I'm deeply concerned about the safety of my community and everyone in it, particularly those in black neighborhoods where police presence tends to be higher.  That's why I'm writing to ask you to support restrictions on the Department of Defense's 1033 Program in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). 

For years, the Department of Defense has used this program to transfer billions of dollars of excess equipment to state and local law enforcement – including bayonets, grenades, militarized drones, and tear gas. These weapons of war have no place on our streets: they do not make us safer, and to the contrary, have been associated with increased use of force against and killing of civilians.  And because black citizens live in overpoliced neighborhoods, they are at even greater risk.

The bipartisan Schatz-Murkowski-Harris-Paul NDAA Amendment 2252 will promote community safety by restricting these transfers and by requiring crucial oversight and transparency. I urge you to vote YES.

Thank you.

---

Email Jeff Merkley

Email Ron Wyden