Originally published December 18 2014
Infowars exposes truth that Spokane County Sheriff is targeting "Constitutionalists" - video
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) A new investigative report regarding police attitudes about patriotic gun owners by Infowars includes a video in which a county deputy in Washington state shares concerns about "Constitutionalists" and others who "stockpile guns."
The video features Spokane County deputies voicing support for the department's acquisition of armored vehicles of war and indicating that they could be needed in the future against the area's gun owners.
"We have guys that shoot at police officers," says one deputy, in response to a question by a woman who appears to be videotaping officers getting into one of the department's armored vehicles. "So, like, they have AK-47s, automatic weapons, and they shoot at us, and... [pointing at the vehicle] this is like a rolling... you can use this as a shield to move the [SWAT] team closer...."
The woman then asked what the vehicle is actually called.
"This is an MRAP," the deputy responds. "It's a military surplus vehicle. Basically, it's a cover for our team movements. It's bulletproof. There's a lot of people out there with heavy machine guns and heavy weapons, and... it's bulletproof, so we can use it as a shield."
The sequence fades, pauses, and then starts again, with the woman explaining to a pair of deputies that a lot of Americans are concerned that the military is turning on citizens.
Campaign to desensitize kids
One deputy responded that, "constitutionally," the military cannot be used in a civilian law enforcement capacity (actually, it is a statute that prevents the military from being used against civilians in a police role, the Posse Comitatus Act of the post-Reconstrution 1870s).
The woman went on to say that President Obama was routinely "stepping all over anything constitutional," so "when you see this kind of vehicle," it "seems like this is a campaign" to desensitize kids.
At that point the conversation turns lighter, and both officers explain that they have brought the MRAP to what appears to a retail store not for a "Black Friday" sales event but because "kids love to see this stuff."
The conversation continues, but then the subject turns to why police would need a weapon of war. Then one deputy answers:
"I mean, we've got a lot of Constitutionalists and a lot of people that stockpile weapons, lots of ammunition. They have weapons here locally."
Following the exclusive Infowars report, the Spokane Sheriff's Department reportedly came under intense scrutiny, prompting a nearly eight-minute videotaped response from Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, in which he essentially blamed Infowars and said the woman took the deputies' comments out of context. His response can be viewed here.
"That report, in and of itself, is very misleading," Knezovich says at the beginning of his response. "What you haven't been told is that that particular interview, started by a lady filming deputies at a charity function working with the MRAP" was an attempt by her to portray the department as trying to "desensitize children to the fact that we had an MRAP."
Blaming the messenger for the message?
Infowars responded:
Knezovich's claim seemingly suggests that the deputy's comments could have been appropriate if the clip had been longer, despite offering no such example in which that would be the case.
The issue was further averted by Knezovich when he argued that the Infowars article was nothing more than "hatemongering," a statement which conveniently ignores Infowars countless articles, reports and videos highlighting and praising positive law enforcement encounters across the country.
The sheriff also attempted to blame Infowars for an alleged threat against one of his deputies in a third-party comment board, but the news website reports that he made no attempt to contact anyone to have the alleged comment removed. Instead, he appeared to hold the information closely so he could later make the claim to local media.
In an interview with The Spokesman-Review, Knezovich "went on to state that he was 'reluctant to take the video from InfoWars seriously because of the conspiracy theories posted on the site,' a bizarre remark that once again attempts to blame the messenger while ignoring the message," Infowars reported.
Sources:
http://www.infowars.com
https://www.youtube.com
http://www.spokesman.com
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