No stranger to controversy, Arizona Representative Brenda Barton posted this picture of a mine-resistant ambush protection vehicle being stored in a county yard on Vanderslice in Mohave Valley on her Facebook page.
The heavily armored 4×4 “Cougar” manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems carries 2 crew and 4 troops. It can be outfitted with M240 7.62mm machine gun or M2 .50 cal machine gun. It has a top speed of 65 mph and an approximate range of 420 miles.
Since it is unclear what threat of invasion Nevada and California pose, the question Representative Barton directed to State Senator Kelli Ward was:
Just ask’n what’s this doing in the Mojave County road yard (right next door to the Sheriff’s compound)?
Senator Ward responded:
I have sent this picture to County personnel who would have the answer about what this is and I expect to know by Monday.
Some comments echoed the concern over the controversial move of militarizing police and Sheriff departments across the country.
Katie Miller Militarization of our police and sheriff depts??
Roy Hagemyer So, which one of our elected officials is going to stand up and do something about this??????????
Frank Costigan Intimidating the public. I was a Cop for over 35 years, never once saw a need for military war equipment. This is beyond a police state mentality. The public is not the enemy, it’s the cops employer’s.
Some of the comments were supportive of the vehicle.
David Lipinski Mohave. ..no J. Brenda, this is my neck of the State. Consider some of the issues we have in rural mohave county, and this peice of equipment might come in handy. Better to have it than not.
Don Alexander Navajo County Search and Rescue could use one.
One person commented
Roy Hagemyer This vehicle is sitting in the County yard on Vanderslice in Mohave Valley. I talked with an elected official, whom I will not name at this time, and he said it might belong to FEMA for monitoring a dam breakage…… But why this type of vehicle???
In a video published in April of this year, singer/songwriter and freedom advocate Gianaluca Zanna asked the same question. The video shows two armored vehicles stored by the Kingman Police Department.
Charles Black, veteran of Afghanistan and resident of Kingman, alleges that David Lux, Chief of Police of Kingman is, “…siding with federal agencies.”
Mr. Black said, “He’s fighting State bills going through right now that keep the feds out of our area, and out of our counties, our cities, our State. He wants money from the federal government and he wants federal support.”
He said that the city does not even own the vehicles, but are required to pay for maintenance on it. They are on loan from the federal government which can seize them at any time for their own operations. He mentioned the close proximity of Mohave County to the Bundy Ranch.
Bundy Ranch is in Nevada and the site on which the Bureau of Land Management sent in heavily armored troops to save the desert tortoise.
Gianluca Zanna is a legal immigrant from Italy. His rock music videos can be seen on YouTube. His music can be purchased through his web site.