Fire Learning: One University's Order of 70 M-16s from Dept of Defense Highlights 1033 Program Nonsense

The frat parties must be a lot wilder now than when I was in school. Why else would American colleges and universities need MRAPs and M-16s? The increasing militarization of local police forces (even in Alabama) has gotten a lot of attention lately, but the military hardware flowing to American campuses has gotten less attention.

Until the Chronicle of Higher Education, pointed it out with a laser sight:

More than 100 colleges and universities have received equipment from the Department of Defense 1033 program since 1998, including office supplies, guns, vehicles, and even grenade launchers. Browse the complete list below. 

The Chronicle has requested but not yet received complete data from Alabama, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington D.C. 

An addendum notes that some articles may have been returned to the DOD, but you have to ask why the colleges received this stuff in the first place? For example:

University of Alabama in Huntsville 

• 5 M-16s
• 1 typewriter
• 18 Axes 

(from high tech to low)  

Arizona State University 

• 70 M-16s 

Butte College Police Department 

•  4 M-16s 

Saddleback College Police Department 

• Mine Resistant Vehicle 

Eastern Connecticut State University Police Department 

• 21 M-16s 

University of Delaware Police Department 

• 10 M-16s
• 100 Gauze Bandages (think that's enough?) 

Purdue at West Lafayette University 

• 25 M-16s  

University of Maryland at College Park Police Department 

• 1 Armored Truck
• 4 M-14s
• 50 M-16s
• 16 12 Gauge Riot-type Shotguns 

Lincoln University (MO) Police - is kind of old-school 

• 20 Bayonets  

Hinds Community College - well... isn't 

• 1 M-79 grenade launcher 
• 2 M-16s 

University of Akron - tends toward practicality 

•  34 pairs of "extreme cold weather drawers."  ie, long underwear
• 40 blankets
• 72 pairs of cold weather overalls
• 2 pressure washers 

University of Cincinnati Police Department - things get grimmer farther South 

•  11 M-16s 

Mid-America Christian University - um... Onward Christian Soliders? 

•  5 .45 handguns
• 1 M-14
• 5 M-16s 

And the creepiest?  James Madison University got 12 mortuary wraps.

Let's think for a minute about the kind of training U.S. soldiers get before we turn them loose anywhere with M-16s.  Let's think how much training police officers get before they start patroling. Now, let's think about local college and university security offices and police departments.

Are you feeling safe yet?

At Kent State, National Guard troops fired 64 rounds at a group of unarmed students, killing four and wounding nine. The volley lasted 13 seconds. Think of the casualty count if they'd been half-trained college security guards firing M16s.

What kind of country are we becoming and how much are we willing to accept?