Private security here! Spent eight years as a guard before moving up to corporate level.

I think about this daily. How an armed guard could get not only fired, but potentially blacklisted from the entire industry (at least locally) for pulling their gun at the “wrong” time. If I were on duty and shot a journalist with a rubber bullet on fucking TV….its just inconceivable. If I were a manager and got a call that one of my guards did this, I can’t even imagine, I’d have to Japanese-train-conductor myself live on the 5pm news after reading a 20 page apology. There aren’t responses strong enough in my repertoire for something like that.

Cops just do it and saunter on to their next abomination.

Like it or not, private security have ten times the liability, accountability, damn near any metric you wanna use, that police do. We get fired (or removed from contracts at client request) for tiny shit daily. A guard being caught burping by a dickish client manager could lose a contract worth millions and dozens of people their jobs.

There are enough bad apples in our industry that I can’t really argue against the leeriness, ridicule, etc, from the public. I get it; there are a lot of IRL Paul Blarts out there. It means the industry needs to raise standards…meh, I’m getting off topic here.

You’re entirely correct, and I’m glad to see this pointed out. Police get away with shit that would get any guard super-extra-mecha fired, whether it’s a highly trained armed guard working a federal contract or an unarmed kid making $9 an hour to sit in an empty parking lot.

From both sides of the fence, this is not how this should be working.

I think Trump dreams of a civil war

then let’s have one. let’s make it go sideways for him. we can’t back down from aggression. that’s living in fear. i want to see this end in a way that sends a dire warning for all future fascists, sociopaths, and idiots.

I mean yes but its not a ‘lost bullet’. he willingly fired on her, and at that distance he could clearly fucking see she has a microphone and is in front of a professional news camera.

fired and prosecuted

lol. you’re sweet. i was thinking of something that would make them fear us for a very long time.

They’ll get a two week vacation and maybe a promotion.

I think they’ll get a promotion for this one

Sure, that’s why the goddamn prime minister is now weighing in. Because it’s so hidden.

I’m a Canadian and I seem to be more furious about this than many Australians.

Channel 9 reported it as her being “caught in the crossfire”, as if she got hit in a gun battle between protesters and cops or something

The oligarchies are working together.

I’m so glad that it was completely caught on camera so there’s no wriggling out of it. It was deliberate at close range.

US officials have some answering to do to us.

Though, we all know we won’t get shit, as their vassals.

Maybe we’ll do some more war crimes on their behalf, you know, as a treat. Then lock up the whistleblower 👍👍👍

The dude literally waited until he was on camera to take the shot. Not only did he know exactly what he was aiming at, he wanted to be seen doing it.

California should pass a ballot initiative making it legal for any random person to shoot police with less lethal munitions whenever they want. You should just be able to walk up to any cop, any time you want, and shoot them with a rubber bullet. If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander.

NYpd and lapd are probably the most corrupt out there. LAPD has actual gang affiliations, some with white supremcesists.

It’s one thing to constantly talk about standing up to tyranny and defending your precious freedoms, owning guns especially for that long awaited moment when they can be revolutionary heroes.
Looks like Americans talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.

same protester that got trampled and concussed was the one shot in the head.

Based on my American public school education, math checks out!

roughly 13 times the german record if you adjust for population. still fucked.

the cop probably mistook that acorn camera for a rocket launcher that you carry on your shoulders. they had legitimate reason to feel threatened.

LAPD has right to defend themselves. she is lucky it was a rubber bullet.

IDF would have shot her in the head then bombed her house and kids school (with them in it).

well maybe in a few years, israel certainly are facing no consequences for a live streamed genocide. the same ultra rich scum are funding both, so they will certainly implement it here after successful trials abroad.

and mostly targeting blue counties too.

Americans are packing more heat than the French. We won’t ever organize to shut down the country, but there will be more executions and attempted murders like the United Health CEO.

As people fall into despair most will rot away silently, but a minority will decide to take somebody with them.

A large part of that working class is fully captive to the corporate media narratives, and voted for Trump last November. They support this.

i hate how vague the term violence is, as it can mean so much as to make it useless.

protesting is a form of violence, it is meant to hurt the status quo. if the protests blocks a road or impedes trade and therefore there’s some economical violence in there too.

but there’s also violence in an unfair system that creates those protests. people are protesting ICE kidnapping and disappearing people with support of the state. that is a much worse violence than that being used in the protest.

and the “violent” police response, was violent, because he literally shot a reporter.

because the term is so vague, anti violence as a moral stance is meaningless.

Even if less-lethal ammunition were risk free, that should still be a crime. Even in the ideal risk-free case, how is this any different from assault, if the cop came up behind a reporter swinging his baton. There was clearly no justifiable reason, it was clearly assault for fun or intimidation, and any reasonable person would know that.

“non-lethal” Oh, boy! What an infuriating misnomer that is.

This is also a good time to remember nothing here in this context is “non-lethal”. All of these things (sand bags, tear gas, tasers, pepper spray, mace, rubber bullets, batons, shields, tactical holds, etc.) are accurately called “less lethal” because all of them can and will kill under certain circumstances, even when used by trained officers with good intentions. (I know. How often does that happen, right?) It doesn’t take much to cross that line between “not intending murder” and “actual fucking murder”, often something as simple as a common medical condition or simply falling while moving over hard ground like curbs and sidewalks. If a reporter is using the term “non-lethal” in the context of police brutality, that’s a pretty good sign that you are being lied to.

Almost all " non-lethal" munitions are really “less lethal” and capable of killing someone if they get hit in the wrong area. They also easily maim. I saw a pellet from what are called “donkey balls” which are essentially clay-more mines filled with little rubber pellets bounce off a wall fast enough to go through someone’s cheek and exit out the other side of his mouth. TLDR You can really fuck someone up with that stuff. Cops think they are like nerf toys.

That and the fact it’s directly attacking your civil rights to free speech and an unprovoked attack. So it’s definitely unconstitutional.

There’s a distance at which they stop being “less-lethal”. At 10 meters/30 feet they’re considered extremely dangerous. The “effective range” at which they’re generally considered less likely to penetrate is 20 to 30 meters (65 to 100 feet).

Lenses make estimating distance tricky, but based on the lines in the road, I don’t think she’s 20 meters away from that cop.

These journalists need body armor and helmets if they’re going to be that close to American Police. Back in 2011 an Iraq War vet named Scott Olsen was head shot at a distance of a few feet fracturing his skull and when some protestors tried to rescue him they flashbanged the rescue effort. It’s extremely unsafe to be that close to these guys.

The US spent the last 24 years spreading freedom and democracy in the Middle East, it ended up running out of it at home

can’t have eyes on the situation. it goes away faster the less people see it

A fascist take over of the government is what’s happening here. This is pretty on brand for that sort of event.

Wait until you find out the entire history of usa…

Because most of them have a core of metal or other high density material and a softer exterior. It’s like wrapping a brick in a couple of layers of bubble wrap and hitting someone if the face with it.

Yes, they are “less-lethal” but there are still hundreds of cases where people have been killed or permanently disabled because of these.

Paintballs can blind you