Demonstrators stand in front of police in riot gear as they gather to protest the death of George Floyd, Saturday, May 30, 2020, near the White House in Washington.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Given the choice between an armed protest or an unarmed riot, I’d choose the former.

This year, I’ve had the chance to attend both the infamous Richmond gun rights rally in Virginia and the ongoing George Floyd protests in Washington, D.C. It’s strange to think that I felt safer in the presence of masked militia-men armed to the teeth with the AR-15s that they carried openly while the police stood idly by, than I did last Sunday night (May 31) surrounded by unarmed protesters and a militarized police force tear-gassing demonstrators and arresting even those who simply exercise their constitutionally-protected rights to assemble and protest.

Our society has seen an ever-increasing imbalance between frayed and disenfranchised communities, and increasingly overpowered and sometimes unaccountable police forces that haven’t necessarily earned their trust or goodwill. Repairing America’s social fabric after this week’s events must go beyond simply bringing abusive officers, or the opportunistic looters and domestic terrorists to justice. We must empower the very communities that officers are meant to protect and serve, and this can only be achieved by demilitarizing the police, upholding Americans’ Second Amendment rights, and by holding officers accountable through civilian oversight.

Ideally, communities and individuals should be able to protect themselves. But when they can’t, they should feel confident turning to the police. Since the early 2000s, however, as the militarization of the U.S. police force has grown, public confidence and trust in law enforcement has shrunk, especially among Hispanics, liberals and young adults. Paramilitary-style tactics like SWAT teams and no-knock raids, like the one responsible for Breonna Taylor’s death, have increased 14-fold since 1980.

Police forces nationwide are also increasingly using military-grade equipment, even though most Americans agree that this historically unprecedented trend goes too far. This creates a Catch-22, whereby communities that may need more protection from crime become increasingly distrustful, afraid or even opposed to those tasked with their protection. Besides eroding trust, militarized police have also driven an increase in violence and civilian killings. This trend must be reversed.

So too, then, must our Second Amendment rights be protected from unnecessary restrictions. Recent months’ ‘shelter-in-place’ laws associated with the coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide riots of the last week have driven increased gun sales. This suggests that more Americans are realizing that police can’t always be there in-time to prevent damage or theft to their property or person. Florida Sheriff Grady Judd acknowledged the issue bluntly, urging armed home-owners in his county to blow looters away.

However graphic Judd’s directive may seem, the notion of self-defense is really nothing new in America. Iconic images of small business-owners, many from minority backgrounds, protecting their businesses and property, are a testament to the American spirit of rugged self-dependence: whether they’re the rooftop Koreans of the 1992 L.A. riots, or this week’s storefront Sikhs.

And yet, that right hasn’t always been upheld, especially for minority communities. Black Americans, including those lawfully seeking to hold the police accountable, have been the disempowered victims of authoritarian gun control measures. These range from the post-Civil war “black codes,” which deprived freedmen of their Second Amendment rights, to the 1967 Mulford Act, which passed with the endorsement of Republicans, Democrats and even the National Rifle Association (NRA), ending open-carry in California in the name of targeting the Black Panther party.

Evidence shows that community-centric measures, not body cameras or police training against implicit bias, will improve policing and accountability while reducing unfair targeting of marginalized communities.

Approximately 150 civilian oversight boards for police misconduct already exist across the United States. Research shows that these are 78% more likely to uphold complaints than internal accountability structures within police departments. This is unsurprising, since police unions tend to protect bad cops.

The problem is that many of these boards can only make recommendations, which can be overruled by police chiefs. And a board whose decisions have no effect is worse than none at all, since it upholds a façade of community accountability while fueling resentment and distrust.

Expanding these boards and giving them final say in disciplinary matters would bolster goodwill and encourage the public to take a stake in community policing. Studies find that local non-profits focused on reducing crime in their communities produce substantial declines in murder, violence and property crime in their cities.

Empowering Americans with the means of self-defense and restoring the role of local communities in holding those who protect and serve them accountable won’t just deter or punish police abuse while reducing our dependence on the cops. It’ll also help build social cohesion at a time of steep political divide, bringing neighbors together in taking a stake in their communities.

Police departments with a bad reputation have had decades to clean up their act. While some have made notable strides, success has been mixed. It’s time to empower Americans and give our civil society a chance.

Satya Marar is a Young Voices contributor and Policy Analyst with Reason Foundation.

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