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It's unbelievable - you'd absolutely be brought up on charges if you used tear gas, which is clearly prohibited during war.

Hundreds of tear gas canisters got fired off at US citizens by police last night, though.

Insane.

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Sounds like a good way to get looters to disperse without further violence. What am I missing?

> “Tear gas is considered a riot control agent because the effects dissipate a short time after exposure,’’ said Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. “But even though the effects of tear gas wear off, its symptoms are harsh and terrifying, including severe eye irritations and difficulty breathing.

> “The United States may justify firing tear gas [...] as legal, but the decision to use an indiscriminate, psychologically terrifying toxic chemical was excessive and certainly immoral."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/11/27/tear-gas-forb...

The acoup blog has an amazingly detailed post on chemical weapons and the reasons behind their disuse today:

https://acoup.blog/2020/03/20/collections-why-dont-we-use-ch...

TLDR: They hit you just as hard as they hit the enemy and they are wildly unpredictable.

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