Teens Protest Chicago Police Getting Rifles

Nearly 100 teens marched in front of the Police Headquarters in Chicago in protest of the police administrators equipping officers with semi automatic rifles. The group, organized by the Southwest Youth Collaborative, is a nonprofit organization. Here is a link to the article in the Chicago Tribune.
The group marched on the police headquarters carrying signs like “Stop the War on Youth”. Is there a war on youth? The group was mentioned to have expressed concerns that they didn''t trust police with the high-powered weapons and worried gangs would be encouraged to bolster their own arsenals. Why are these concerned citizens believing this would be the outcome?
There are many reasons to include first and foremost, remember… this is in Chicago, the same city which has now brought us the new president elect and an army of liberal thinking left. It is part of the agenda of some left thinking people to take away guns and the right of gun ownership.
It is not my intent to express my feelings about gun ownership in this blog. The possible explanation of how a group could feel so strongly as to protest this issue may suggest their position on gun ownership. They must believe that not arming the police sufficiently to react to criminals is the appropriate action for a community to take. The Southwest Youth Collaborative has as one of its purposes to “ build power and self-determination among low-income youth and families and seek to create a leadership and power base for disenfranchised young people” and to create a "unique model of organizing that develops intergenerational, multi-racial, and gender balanced leadership for social justice and institutional change around the issues affecting youth”.
This is a group of “community organizers” that focuses on pushing an agenda… “working together for a just future” (all information was taken from their site http://www.swyc.org/)

How does the police arming themselves go against this group's agenda? This group has decided to attack the police for attempting to protect the members of the group. Police react to the criminals in a community. They are not going around carrying the rifles in a militaristic fashion. The concern that gangs are going to arm themselves in response to the police getting rifles is rationalizing illegal activities for legal actions. Let me explain, the police can legally own and carry these weapons. The gangs cannot legally own of carry these weapons. When police take action they do so under the authority given to them by the municipal, county, state or United States Constitution. The gangs or criminals do not act under any recognized authority.

In my opinion, the patrol rifles are an asset to the police force. They are an effective weapon and one the police should not only be allowed to carry, but should be encouraged to carry with them. It is the responsibility of the community to react to the actions of their police force. They should protest those things which are illegal or go against the community’s sense of well being and protection. It is my position the majority of the community’s intent is for the police to be properly armed to protect the citizens. With this position in mind, before we make our opinion about a headline in a newspaper, we should research the specific arguments. In this instance, we should better understand the intentions of the group staging the protest, better understand the legality of the issue, and the intent of the police to make the changes. I believe in this case, the police are right. The protestors have an agenda which starts out against the police force. It is legal for the police to have the weapons. Their intent to have the rifles is to better protect the community.
In conclusion, leave the police alone in this matter. They are right.