Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

The Double Standards of “Defund the Police”

Monday, October 31, 2022

The Double Standards of “Defund the Police”

Kshama Sawant, Seattle City councilor and member of the “revolutionary Marxist organization” Socialist Alternative Party, has been an enthusiastic proponent of drastic cuts to local law enforcement funding, calling the police a “racist, violent institution.” In a 2018 speech, she explained her “view that the Seattle police have had a long record of police brutality and racial bias, and that this is an ongoing problem… For many on the left, the police are the force that physically stops you from exercising your free speech rights, the force that defends the interests of the billionaires and those in power against everyone else. And the reality is, that is how big business and corporate politicians use police forces around the world.”

A budget amendment Sawant proposed in 2020 would have cut the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) remaining 2020 budget by fifty percent. After that amendment failed, she continued the “unchanging demand[]: Defund SPD by at least 50%.” By late 2021, Seattle politicians had approved cuts – although not as extreme as those Sawant advocated – to the police budget for the second year in a row, with Sawant being the lone holdout, still, for funding to be slashed by half.    

Sawant’s views on law enforcement didn’t stop her from demanding that the SPD “follow up with real urgency” on a matter of personal concern. In late 2020, Sawant had asked City officials to investigate threats allegedly emailed to her office from a Seattle Fire Department (SFD) employee’s email account. (SFD officials had already advised they were investigating.) In a memo to then-mayor Durkan and the interim police chief, Sawant complained about the police department’s “lackadaisical approach,” interpreting it as evidence of the “serious systemic problem of right-wing ideas within the department,” and the threats as more generally a “means of trying to intimidate all who dare to fight for workers’ rights and against the racism, sexism, and oppression which stem from the capitalist system.”

One commentator alleges that Sawant failed to report the emails to the SPD directly, with the police “only learn[ing] about them after Sawant’s comments went public,” and highlighted that Sawant was complaining to the police chief “whose department she’s trying to defund by 50% but now hopes will spend limited resources tracking down an emailer she chose not to report.”

Soon after, a fire department employee was criminally charged for using a coworker’s account to send the emails, in the hope that coworker would be punished. Rather than some grandiose scheme to suppress the proletariat, he apparently chose Sawant as the recipient simply because the coworker lived in Sawant’s political district.

Council member Sawant is back in the news again, with a fresh complaint about the police.

A local blog reports that Sawant’s political group has released Sawant’s letter to the new mayor and police chief, in which Sawant accuses the SPD of “failing to investigate a series of disturbing incidents at my home. Six times now, bags of human excrement have been thrown into my yard.” It “does not appear that the Seattle Police Department agrees that this is in any way a serious matter.”

Both the mayor and the SPD responded, with the mayor advising that the “SPD will follow all standard protocols and practices.” An October 20th posting on the SPD’s “police blotter” page notes that the “department takes incidents involving public officials seriously, and investigators have canvassed for evidence, gathered information from witnesses and reviewed everything collected thus far.”

Sawant, it is claimed, expects the SPD to “post officers outside her home from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. until the suspect is arrested.”

The expectation for government-funded personal security is especially glaring given Sawant’s position on the rights of law-abiding Americans who want to defend themselves and their families. Sawant has called for “common sense” gun control, like banning the most popular firearms that Americans overwhelming purchase for self-defense.

Assuming the SPD apprehends the perpetrator of the feces dumping, Sawant’s radical rhetoric could backfire spectacularly, should the suspect claim that the acts were a “peaceful protest” not much different in kind than those Sawant has consistently (e.g., here, here and here) defended from arrest or criminal charges.

IN THIS ARTICLE
Police
TRENDING NOW
U.S. Senate Adds Pro-Gun Tax Relief Language Back into Reconciliation Bill

News  

Saturday, June 28, 2025

U.S. Senate Adds Pro-Gun Tax Relief Language Back into Reconciliation Bill

Overnight, the U.S. Senate added pro-gun tax relief language back into the Reconciliation bill after the Senate Parliamentarian struck out an earlier provision.  While this new provision is not as expansive as the language we advocated for which ...

U.S. Senate Forced to Remove Pro-Gun Language from Reconciliation Bill

News  

Friday, June 27, 2025

U.S. Senate Forced to Remove Pro-Gun Language from Reconciliation Bill

Today, the U.S. Senate was forced to remove the pro-gun language that had been previously included in the Reconciliation Bill currently making its way through the chamber. We explained in a previous article that this language would, ...

U.S. House Passes Reconciliation Bill, Removing Suppressors from the National Firearms Act

News  

Second Amendment  

Thursday, May 22, 2025

U.S. House Passes Reconciliation Bill, Removing Suppressors from the National Firearms Act

Earlier today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.1 the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included Section 2 of the Hearing Protection Act, completely removing suppressors from the National Firearms Act (NFA).

Armed Churchgoers Prevent Mass Attack as State Lawmakers Plot More Gun Control

News  

Monday, June 30, 2025

Armed Churchgoers Prevent Mass Attack as State Lawmakers Plot More Gun Control

Just over an hour away from the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan – even as lawmakers worked feverishly to pass various gun control measures, including expansion of “gun free” zones – a chilling reminder unfolded of the ...

U.S. Court of Appeals Backtracks on Adverse Suppressor Ruling

News  

Monday, June 23, 2025

U.S. Court of Appeals Backtracks on Adverse Suppressor Ruling

In a single sentence, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit added to the high-profile and consequential national conversation on firearm suppressors.

Canada’s Big Ugly Gun Grab: An Update

News  

Monday, June 30, 2025

Canada’s Big Ugly Gun Grab: An Update

Canada’s Liberal government is pressing on with its harebrained gun ban and confiscation program for “assault style weapons,” but, true to form and precedents, it has been far from smooth sailing.

Urge the U.S. Senate to Pass the One Big Beautiful Bill – Contact Your U.S. Senators Today!

News  

Monday, June 30, 2025

Urge the U.S. Senate to Pass the One Big Beautiful Bill – Contact Your U.S. Senators Today!

The U.S. Senate has cleared a number of procedural hurdles and is preparing to vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill. This vote will likely come within the next day. The One Big Beautiful Bill includes ...

North Carolina: Update on Gun Bills Moving through the General Assembly

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Gun Bills Moving through the General Assembly

Recently, House Bill 193 (H193) was reported favorably out of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Rules Committee, with amendments.

News  

Second Amendment  

Friday, June 27, 2025

Joint Statement from Pro-Gun Groups on the Senate Reconciliation Bill

On behalf of millions of NRA members and gun owners, we stand united in calling on Congress to uphold Americans' Second Amendment rights and zero out the NFA's excise tax on suppressors and short-barreled firearms.

Argentina President Milei Continues to Make Improvements to Country’s Gun Laws

News  

Monday, June 30, 2025

Argentina President Milei Continues to Make Improvements to Country’s Gun Laws

We’ve reported before about Argentina President Javier Milei expanding access to firearms for law-abiding Argentinians.

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.