[downerending]

> I think protestors should be able to be armed with whatever police are.

That's insane. A fundamental tenet of (US) law is that using a weapon while committing a crime is itself a crime.

We're not at war. There are a lot of people breaking the law, and we need to reduce that with as little harm as possible.

[sitkack]

> A fundamental tenet of (US) law is that using a weapon while committing a crime is itself a crime.

Shouldn't that apply to police as well?

[chishaku]

> A fundamental tenet of (US) law is that using a weapon while committing a crime is itself a crime.

This conditioning to think that protest is a criminal act leads many to justify any police action including those that lead to death.

> We're not at war.

Tell that to the unaccountable, militarized police forces.

[aspaceman]

Protesting is a crime now?

What world am I in Christ. You got a bunch of people protesting. The cops put their boots to their throats. And you’re hemming and hawing about them “breaking the law actually” by protesting.

I can’t even begin to see your perspective. These jackbooted thugs suck and all this deflection is weird as hell. You don’t need to beat the living shit out of someone to arrest them that shouldn’t be radical.

[User23]

> Protesting is a crime now?

Arson and looting are, and that's what the post you're replying to meant.

[guerrilla]

> a crime.

Protesting is not a crime.

> We're not at war.

I'm not sure that's a great consolation to all the dead black people, those still enslaved in the prison system or in enforced poverty.

[klyrs]

> That's insane. A fundamental tenet of (US) law is that using a weapon while committing a crime is itself a crime.

If the police were held to that standard, perhaps they wouldn't be so trigger happy.

[minikites]

>There are a lot of people breaking the law, and we need to reduce that with as little harm as possible.

Cops are the ones breaking the law. The way to "reduce that with as little harm as possible" is to abolish the police and replace them with a public safety department that isn't systematically power hungry, racist, and violent.

[downerending]

You should start looking at the videos. I've seen a couple of unconscious people being kicked in the head this week by "protesters". These people are nothing like law-abiding.

[alistairSH]

If a few bad apples discredits an entire protest movement, why don't a few bad apples discredit the entire law enforcement apparatus?

[lm28469]

There are people being there to break bones and fuck things up, on both sides. If we focus on them instead of the underlying issues we all lose.

[bluntfang]

comparing civilians to police officers is a false equivalency.