“We’re definitely encouraged,” said Kara Dansky, lead author on the ACLU’s comprehensive report on police militarization, released just weeks before the shooting of Michael Brown. “We hope that it results in legislation.”

Danksy called on the president to immediately end several military equipment giveaway programs right away by ordering the Department of Defense to stop giving local forces free surplus gear, among other options. She also said Obama could order the Department of Homeland Security to forbid local forces from using DHS grant money to buy military weaponry and other equipment.

After that’s done, she said the focus could shift to moving several demilitarization-related bills filed since Ferguson through Congress.