re: #137 Dark_Falcon

A very quick response would be that the cops in Ferguson often used this indiscriminately against people for whom it was absolutely unnecessary. Or did you forget about them gassing tv crews? Or have you missed the reporting from people on the ground who basically said that at a certain time of the night, the cops just started mass gassing the protestors? The large block of protestors and media personnel carrying gas masks so they could exercise their first amendment rights because ‘dispersing large crowds was the priority’? I see at least one image I remember because the police were insisting they had only fired smoke until people started showing them the CS gas they were using. The takeaway that standoff was a key priority means that TALKING TO THE COMMUNITY was not a concern.

Moral compass should be right along the ‘crowd control measures during Ferguson were completely out of hand, but at least they didn’t shoot them’ azimuth.