Oakland to ban hammers, tripods, walking canes, other 'tools of vandalism'

(NaturalNews) Forget "gun control." That's old news. The city of Oakland, California now wants to ban any object that could be used as a "tool of vandalism," including hammers, wrenches, slingshots, shields and presumably anything else with a blunt edge such as garden rakes or sticks.

It's all part of Oakland's response to recent protests in which angry mobs of people caused significant damage to local businesses (because angry mobs tend to loot and burn their own neighborhoods first).

So the Oakland City Council is considering a proposed ordinance that would criminalize the possession of everyday objects, including objects of professional tradesmen such as hammers, large screwdrivers, walking canes and mechanic's tools.

The city claims these objects will be illegal to possess during a "protest," but a protest can be defined as any two people standing around, or walking down a street, or even just talking loudly. There is no official definition of a "protest," meaning the police can invoke the ordinance any time they wish. That's how these laws always go: they get interpreted and deployed far beyond their original intent.

Police need more tools, but tools of the people should be criminalizedIn a local CBS story, Oakland Councilman Noel Gallo attempted to explain why he wanted to criminalize hammers by saying, "the Oakland Police Department needs additional tools to help protect life and property in our city." The word "tools" might have been a poor choice, of course, since the proposed ordinance would outlaw nearly all common tools include plumber's wrenches and even video tripods used by journalists.

The proposed banning of shields is especially interesting, given that more protesters are routinely harmed by Oakland police than by other protesters. The message from the Oakland City Council is: You are not allowed to protect yourself from police. You must allow yourself to be openly shot, punched or sprayed with pepper spray, or else you will be arrested and then punched and pepper-sprayed while in handcuffs.
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