doubleplusundead

I’m flipping back and forth between LOTR and the riots in Ferguson.

Commentators keep talking about cops in ‘riot gear’ and what they’re talking about is this

That’s not riot gear, that’s military assault wear.

Cops with M-4s or AR-15s are not useful for subduing riots, they’re for killing people, pure and simple.

This is riot gear

 

 

That’s what the cops should be wearing,

The only thing cops with assault rifles or AR-15s can do is threaten or kill.

The protesters know they’re not going to fire automatic weapons into a crowd (whether that’s true or not I’m not so sure), so the ‘threat’ part is not credible or, as we can see, working.

When a bunch of people see guys coming at them with batons behind the plexiglass shields, well, they will know they will get bashed.

That’s a credible threat, unlike the the empty threat of automatic weapons.

It’s even worse if the cops use those assault rifles.

If there’s a bloodbath, well, I can see a whole bunch of cities erupting. That would get a whole bunch of people riled up, people who are against the rioters in general right now.

And that’s the problem with the militarization of police.

Contra Die Hard movies, cops do not often fight mercenaries with rocket launchers, they police American citizens.

They’re not an occupying army, they’re supposed to be peacekeepers.