From Reuters, in case you missed it:
The White House will revisit a 2015 ban on police forces getting riot gear, armored vehicles and other military-grade equipment from the U.S. armed forces, two police organization directors told Reuters on Thursday.
The two national heads of police union associations, Jim Pasco and Bill Johnson, requested that the ban be lifted because, they said, police need grenade launchers and armored vehicles to handle potential riots.
Under the 2015 executive order, the federal government may no longer transfer such equipment. Local police are not banned from purchasing it on the private market, but most departments cannot afford that on their own, potentially leaving officers vulnerable, said Pasco.
“The White House thought this kind of gear was intimidating to people, but they didn’t know the purpose it serves,” said Pasco, noting a grenade launcher can also launch tear gas for crowd control.
Yes, that must be it. They didn’t know how grenade launchers work.
Pasco, an influential lobbyist for police unions with deep connections to Democrats and Republicans, is the same guy who has opposed the rights of bystanders to film the police because “letting people record police officers is an extreme and intrusive response to a problem that’s so rare it might as well not exist.”