By Julie Turkewitz
...Ted Beaver (click here), 42, a staff sergeant at the Oklahoma City Police Department, called the competition “the grand hurrah,” a camaraderie-building event he looks forward to every year.
But protesters have been agitating for weeks about the six-day tournament, sponsored by the National Rifle Association. Although it has taken place in Albuquerque annually since 2006, this year’s circumstances are unusual: The Albuquerque Police Department was reprimanded in April by the Justice Department over a spate of fatal shootings, many of which were declared to be unconstitutional uses of deadly force. And several local officers are participating in the National Police Shooting Championships, which will end Thursday with trophies and prizes....
The celebration of brutal tactics against unarmed citizens is inappropriate. The games should have been moved from Albuquerque to Fairfax, Virginia, the headquarters of the NRA.Obviously the training police officers have been getting since 2006 has created a militarized domestic force that is very dangerous to every citizen of the USA.
Any prize for this six day police event should go to a trust fund to present to the families of those murdered by police.
