Protester shot in the eye with rubber bullet during 'No Kings Day' rally in downtown Los Angeles
Protester shot in the eye with rubber bullet during 'No Kings Day' rally in downtown Los Angeles
You shouldn’t have to wear safety rated glasses to protest, but I wouldn’t go to one without them at this point. If you normally wear glasses and they’re not rated an impact can shatter them and cause even more damage than not wearing them at all would have.
If you have glasses buy safety glasses that go over top of them. Doesn’t matter if your glasses are rated for it, use the safety glasses. Glasses are expensive and safety glasses can be bought for fairly cheap.
If you can’t afford them, check if there is a robotics event going on near you. Then check if they have open access to the pits, if they do then they will have safety glasses stations that you can pick up a pair at. They won’t hound you for then back really, the people working those stations are usually volunteers. At those kinds of events they also expect a lot of those pairs to get taken, whether accidentally or on purpose. So you taking a pair will go unnoticed.
Edit: Not everyone has a few dollars that can be spared for a pair of safety glasses. Stealing from a store is more risky than taking them from an event where they aren’t expecting them back. Remember that jails are filled with people who can’t afford to pay their bails. I’m not here to price gatekeep people going to protests, get a pair however you can. I want you to be safe, not keep you out.
If you can afford multiple pairs buy extras for others. Be selfless rather than be an asshole.
And kevilar vest. And jock. Maybe even a helmet.
But if course, that enables the narrative that you come dressed to fight or something stupid. What has happened to Western civilization...
The protester was among tens of thousands of people who took to the streets for the demonstrations across Southern California and the rest of the country.
Tens of thousands? There were over FIVE MILLION protesters.
E OVER THIRTEEN MILLION protesters - thank you, Lucidlethargy
Over 12 million
Yeah the 5 Million seemed like the total number from just counting the big cities. If you actually include the thousands of small protest events all over the US, 12 Million makes a lot more sense
Over 12 million is also over 5 million, which is tens of thousands (over 1200 tens of thousands, technically)
I used to drink. I still do, but I used to too
Estimates say there may be have been dozens or more protestors.
I hope they recover their vision. As someone who lost sight in one eye I can attest that going from binocular to monocular vision is life altering AND not considered a disability under the law Social Security requirements but typically is covered by ADA.
Edit: clarification.
How is losing 50% of your eyesight not a disability?
My dude, teeth are considered luxury bones in this country.
Because you still have eyesight in the other eye, so in social security's mind there's jobs in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (the DOT) you could still perform, and if there's three jobs you could perform despite your impairment you aren't disabled. Also, if you're under 50 you almost certainly aren't disabled for some reason. It's maddening.
America
I'll adjust my comment because I realize it might be confusing. It's protected by ADA but it doesn't meet the requirements for a disability claim under Social Security:
They trying to make those rubber bullets letal.
Less lethal is just maiming? That doesn’t seem much fucking better.
You are supposed to aim centre mass with less lethal. Hitting the eye means you are incompetent (unlikely), or malicious (definitely).
I was at a protest in DTLA where they were firing them. Some cops were flinching when the rounds were fired. So I'm going with both incompetent and malicious.
You also aren't supposed to aim directly at people but bounce them off the ground, IIRC
Rubber bullets are supposed to be fired at the ground and bounce up into targets...
Hey, that's an insult to trained shooters. They are clearly both.
Well it's better than dead.
Pretty depressing to imagine escaping one despotic regime, through hell and high water, only to watch another rise and set its sights right on you.
I wonder if this was the guy that was injured during Hasan's stream on Saturday? There was a guy injured in the eye and the cops were definitely shooting head level.
Classic passive voice headline.
This was so common during protests in Spain they made a movie about it: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4555674/
"A young man who lost his eye with a rubber ball in a street protest, coincidentally meets the riot police who shot the ball in a dinner."
Holy shit. This must be a thing that cops do on purpose, then.
I don't think so, rubber bullets travel relatively slow, I don't think they would be accurate enough to aim for the eyes. I do think they're probably not careful enough about the face of though
Waiting for Pussolini to send the National Guard to city hall, to depose the mayor and council.
States need to pass ballot initiatives that make it completely legal to shoot any police officer with a rubber bullet whenever you feel like it. It should also be legal to pump tear gas into a police station whenever you want. Police are using these things against entirely peaceful protests. The only violent people are the police. Yet they're allowed to just use these weapons against people with no consequence whatsoever. I say what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If these weapons are that harmless that cops can just use them whenever, then we should be able to use them against cops whenever we feel like it as well. It should be entirely legal to shoot cops with rubber bullets. They should have to go everywhere in full body armor and face coverings. See a cop on the street? Shoot them with a rubber bullet. Officer pulls you over? Shoot them with a rubber bullet. Cop standing in line at a donut shop? Feel free to come up behind them and shoot them point blank in the back of the head with a rubber bullet.
If cops can use these weapon with such casual indifference, then they must be completely harmless. As such, there is no harm in allowing citizens to use rubber bullets and tear gas against officers at any time they choose. Anything that cops can do to random citizens random citizens should also be able to do to cops.
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I'd vote for that ballot initiative
Eyewitness News Reporter Sid Garcia spoke to the protester who was shot from his hospital bed at the L.A. General Medical Center.
I was thinking at first like, how lucky to be in a hospital bed already when being shot. 🧐
ICE will retaliate at a time, place, and manor of their choosing. /S
Is that "/s" there for plausible deniability? Because I don't think it's going to work. ICE seems to be immune to logic and other mind tricks like deniability.
chemistry stores in college sell those hard plastic glasses or goggles.
You'll need z87+ (ANSI Z87.1) impact resistant safety glasses or goggles. If the chemistry store does not have these you can find them at any big box hardware store
"Just one more peaceful protest bro. I swear bro"
We need a database of pigs and ICE.
best they can do is have palintir make a database about citizens.
I'm surprised they're not using real bullets
Reminder to folks that "less lethal" still means "lethal" even if the cops pretend it doesn't.
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/21/nx-s1-5015030/linda-tirado-journalist-shot-police-2020-george-floyd-protests-hospice-care
In the video from last weekend of the Australian reporter being shot in the back, you can clearly see the police officer behind her raise and aim straight at her. Clearly there's no repercussions for misusing these weapons.
Different victim but here's what a shot to the back can do:
Maybe in countries where police accountability isn't a punchline.
It is this kind of thing that made me decide to ignore my city's municipal codes regarding protest gear. It outlaws the wearing of bulletproof vests, helmets, protective visors, hearing protection, gas masks, and so on. To say the least, I cannot respect a law that is designed to permit bullies to injure or kill people who did nothing wrong.
Gods forbid that people should protect their faces from damage.
If you don’t bring any protective gear, you better run when things get ugly. If you plan to stay when things get ugly, you better bring the appropriate gear with you.
how is it legal to stop people from wearing bulletproof vests in public!? Why aren't 2nd amendment mfs screaming about this?
Just think about how that could even happen. You put any of us in their shoes, we would obviously aim low, to prevent permanent damage.
It's like police are overgrown toddlers, mad that they're forced to use less lethal rounds... So they take it out on civilians and aim for the face. Can you imagine being as hate-filled as these fucking orcs that you would want to blind the people you "serve" for the rest of their lives (if you don't kill them)!? Absolute monsters...
'Qualified immunity' is unique to the USA. Never should have been made law and it should surprise no-one that it came about during push-back to the civil rights movement. It enables all of this bullshit by making police behaviour untouchable.
Toddlers would see people getting hurt and angry and stop.
You expect me to believe that cops are supposed to 360 no scope trick shots? I don't think they took, much less passed, geometry.
You're supposed to be shooting at a dangerous crowd, not an individual. You don't need to accurately get the right angle you just need to generally aim in the right direction, but at the ground, and I'll bounce and hit someone. The fact they're choosing not to do this either indicates poor training or malice.
Eye shot vs nut shot I can’t decide which is worse
One of the things I've learned in life is that one should minimize reliance on behaviorial safeguards throught the use of mechanical safeguards. You shouldn't rely on people to do the right thing. As such, removing opportunities for them to fuck up is key.
The design and production of rubber bullets, as they are here, is pure negligence. That they kill 3% of their victims (per your graphic) is enough that I would wager that they would be considered a lethal weapon in other contexts.