when the first slave patrols/police forces were formed, people actively fought the idea of police having guns because they were unnecessary killing people. in the 1830s people wrote editorials calling the police barbaric saying under no circumstance should they have weapons

there were, of course wealthy elites that supported the police but “police represented the abrogation, rather than the foundation, of the rule of law.” the formation of police was not seen as progress, it was seen as resorting to an “archaic past”

in new orleans in particular, the police literally argued “that an absolute right to violence was crucial for the defense of the city” ?!? they didn’t even try to make it seem like they were going to use their guns for good