Perspectives

[Benton]

I wouldn't say it counts as oppressive government as there's no unified effort. There isn't some state cabinet promoting the idea that all law enforcement officers should shoot first and confiscate cell phones second. If anything, there's the opposite in many states where the government is calling for less profiling and less use of force.

I do see where some people could get the impression it's the government. LEO's work for some branch of it, either local, state or federal. But most people don't understand the gap between the top and the bottom. A state senator has no real connection to a sheriff's deputy in his state, outside of maybe voting on the guy's hazardous duty pay. Your local city councilman isn't calling up a city police Lt. and reminding them to read the Miranda rights. And sure, there are plenty of examples where law makers interfere with law enforcement, but I'm talking about the regular day-to-day, it's not a situation where the two are overlapping.

In terms of their 2nd amendment rights, I could see if this were people attacking lawmakers for things they've done, but this isn't that.