Republican Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida torpedoed Democrats for pushing destructive legislation that would handicap and defund the police.
Cammack, whose husband is a SWAT medic and firefighter, made an impassioned speech Wednesday from the floor of the House of Representatives to oppose the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.”
Hours later, the Democrat-controlled House passed the bill by a mostly party-line vote of 220-212.
The legislation would usher in sweeping police reforms that essentially handcuff cops and expose them to lawsuits by doing the following:
- Ban chokeholds, no-knock warrants and racial profiling.
- Limit qualified immunity as a defense to liability in a civil lawsuit.
- Lower the criminal intent standard to convict a police officer in a federal prosecution.
- Force officers to undergo training on “implicit bias.”
Cammack said while police reform is important, she’s worried about the chilling effect the bill would have on law enforcement officers’ ability to do their jobs properly.
She took issue with the bill, which is predicated on the outrageous premise that most cops are racist and have bad intentions.
“This bill is named after a man who was murdered by a police officer,” Cammack said. “The officer responsible should have never been allowed to don a badge and act on behalf of the agency sworn to protect its citizens. He should and is being held accountable.
“Now, as a member of the first responder family, I can say definitively on behalf of our officers, that there is absolutely nothing — nothing — that a good cop hates more than a bad cop.”
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Being a law enforcement officer is dangerous enough without being forced to constantly second-guess yourself in the field because you’re terrified of being called racist.
Cammack brought one of her husband’s bulletproof SWAT vests and said the bill the Democrats passed would limit police use of military-grade equipment to protect themselves.
“This is the same vest that he wore for 14 hours while on a massive manhunt for a man who had just been released from prison who promptly raped and killed his girlfriend,” she recounted.
“It is the same vest that he wore while responding to a man who had barricaded himself with weapons, threatening to kill his own children.”
The congresswoman said that “what the bill does is take this kind of equipment off the backs of our men and women in uniform.”
Cammack said it’s easy to criticize an officer’s reactions from the comfort of your couch without appreciating how grueling and dangerous his or her job is.
“Are you waking up at 2 a.m. going to respond to a gruesome murder? Are you missing your children’s birthday parties to respond to gang shootings?” she asked.
It’s important to address police reform, the congresswoman said, but we should also “fully fund the police.”
‘Defund Police’ Backfires as Minneapolis City Council Begs for Cops After Crime Spikes https://t.co/uGWXxdgeLH
— Curious Rabitt ?✌️???? (@CuriousRabitt) September 17, 2020
In a tweet Wednesday accompanying a video of her address, Cammack said, “We cannot let this bill pass. It’s life or death for our men and women in blue. To those at home, I will ALWAYS back the blue. I’ve got your six, especially when the Democrats don’t.”
This is what I said when the Democrats gaveled me down.
If you agree, LIKE and SHARE. We cannot let this bill pass. It’s life or death for our men and women in blue. To those at home, I will ALWAYS back the blue. I’ve got your six, especially when the Democrats don’t. pic.twitter.com/NxIwr1O5UP
— Congresswoman Kat Cammack (@RepKatCammack) March 4, 2021
Former Maryland congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik, a Republican, slammed the left’s “defund the police” hysteria, saying it would hurt black neighborhoods the most.
In a viral August video, she asked black Baltimore residents if they wanted to defund the police. They all said no.
“I had three sons killed in Baltimore,” one man said. “I think if we defund the police officers, it’s going to be worse than that.”
Another man asked, “What do you want to defund the police for? How do you defend your city, your community [without the police]? Families are losing people.”
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Klacik, who was running for a Baltimore district seat last year, pointed out that 53 years of Democrat control had ruined the city.
“This is the reality for black people every single day: crumbling infrastructure, abandoned homes, poverty and crime,” she said.
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“Baltimore has been run by the Democrat Party for 53 years. What is the result of their decades of leadership? Baltimore is one of the top five most dangerous cities in America. The Baltimore poverty rate is over 20 percent.”
Klacik slammed Democrats for constantly playing the race card to fool the black community into voting for them while doing nothing to help. She said defunding the police is the latest gimmick that will ultimately backfire on the black community.
“The worst place for a black person to live in America is a Democrat-controlled city,” Klacik said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
