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posted by takyon on Saturday June 20 2015, @10:10AM   Printer-friendly
from the singed-brows dept.

Manny Fernandez writes in the NYT that the scores of military and police-style vans, trucks and cars offered for sale on Craigslist and eBay have raised concerns for some law enforcement officials particularly after the Dallas attack on a police headquarters but officials say the vehicles appear to be legal for the most part, so there is little they can do. Jeff Funicello, for example, is selling his black 1975 GMC armored truck on Craigslist. The body is armored, and the windows are bulletproof. It has sliding portholes to point rifles from and a sprinkler system inside. Long ago, it transported money, and it was once the target of a shootout in the 1980s.

Of course, people have been driving reinforced cars long before the Dallas attack on a police headquarters. But the celebrities and executives who install bulletproof windows and other types of armor on their vehicles often do not want it noticed. Celebrity clients generally demand that the exteriors of their luxury armored vehicles look normal so they blend in. However those who buy and sell armored vans want people to look. And the popularity of apocalyptic movies and television shows has put a new twist and added a macabre cachet to such vehicles "This is America," says Funicello. "I should be able to have a howitzer or a bazooka if I want one. If I wanted to buy a fire truck, I could."


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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by kaszz on Saturday June 20 2015, @11:34AM

    by kaszz (4211) on Saturday June 20 2015, @11:34AM (#198619) Journal

    Being the devils advocate one could argue that the reason so few cops gets killed is because they are trigger happy?

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  • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday June 20 2015, @06:21PM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Saturday June 20 2015, @06:21PM (#198759) Homepage

    There was an expose' in a mens' magazine many years ago about widespread steroid use in police departments, which described a 'nudge nudge wink wink' If not compulsory attitude within police departments.

    I can't say with certainty that there is a causal relationship, but the issue needs to be revisited and corrected for the increased exposure of police brutality enabled by the internet.

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday June 20 2015, @06:32PM

      by kaszz (4211) on Saturday June 20 2015, @06:32PM (#198764) Journal

      I find your theory interesting. It should be quite straightforward to test it because molecules tend to fly around in air and fluids. So one could test the sewage from station or sweat from used clothes for trace amounts.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2015, @10:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2015, @10:29PM (#198816)

    I saw this story previously and the part that got my attention was that the cop shot through the CLOSED window of her squad car.
    W.T.F.??

    -- gewg_