Pierce offers amendment to prevent the deployment of paramilitary forces in Indiana’s neighborhoods

Today, Jan. 27, State Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) offered an amendment to House Bill 1343. HB 1343 includes a provision allowing the Indiana National Guard to create a military police unit that could be deployed to enforce laws against civilians in any community when the Governor thinks it's necessary. Local government officials would have no power to prevent the military force from invading their communities. Pierce’s amendment would have removed this language from the bill, but the amendment was voted down by the House Majority.

“This is the most dangerous thing I’ve ever seen moving through the legislature. It’s playing with fire. It allows the Governor to deploy a paramilitary force, with little training compared to civilian police, in our neighborhoods anytime the Governor considers it necessary. 

“What happens when you deploy a poorly trained paramilitary force in our communities? All you need to do is look at Minneapolis, Minnesota. You get a mother shot in the head after dropping her child off at school. You get a young ICU nurse shot in the back at point-blank range. You turn on the TV and see the videos, and you ask yourself,  ‘How can this happen in our country?’ We see the tragedies that occur when one person has unchecked power.

"We are living in a time when the federal government is deploying paramilitary forces to communities it doesn't like, and people are getting killed. Then, government officials lie to the American people about what happened.

“Why in God’s name would you give that kind of power to Indiana’s governor? The House should reject this dangerous bill. This is not who we are as Americans or Hoosiers.”