non-lethal weapons are still weapons.

I posted the video above because if it wasn't labeled one might assume that it happened somewhere outside the use. The people are terrified and in that moment don't know what the police are shooting at them. Imagine what it would be like to have been there
It's loud and bright like a bomb (that's the flash bangs). The police are shooting bullets at you, but the bullets whiz by so fast you don't know that they are rubber. So you try to run away but you can't see where you're going because you're eyes are welling up like they did when your nose was broken in the seventh grade and even if you manage not to run into something or another terrified person you can't get far because your lungs are burning.
I've never been in that kind of situation. The closest I've been was on the way to a war protest and watching the cops with their batons in hand smacking it, ready for action,  though they out numbered us and all the kids around me were suburbanite teenagers. It made me really upset and I asked a fire chief to ask the officer if he would put his weapon away. The fire chief refused and I told him "I would ask him but he'd probably use it on me". he agreed but still did nothing.
Later I heard other protesters thanking the police for keeping the order. Which was a better way of showing the police we weren't their enemies. This protest was in Chicago after all and there is a history of protest going badly, I just wish that SOME of them didn't look like they were hoping something would happen.
I watch the video above and ask "Who is being protected and served?"  I don't think the police are any better or worse than any other citizen but I do think their perception of events are skewed. I don't think they realize non-lethal weapons are still weapons. I think it's easy for them to forget the damage these weapons can do.
The reason assault is such a felony charge for civilians is because a well placed punch can kill someone. I have a friend who is a highly trained martial artist. Grabbed a kid from behind. The kid flipped my friend over and broke his skull open. My friend's training was defeated by luck.
People have died from being tasered by police and there is a former marine in critical condition. And police may test these weapons on themselves and think they're perfectly safe. But those tests are in controlled conditions, not in the chaos of the street. When an mouthy speeder gets tased she doesn't have two friends holding her arms, or a pad to land on.
Don't get me wrong if police think there is any chance that they are in any physical danger- they should kick some ass. I realize that life is fragile and that thing being thrown from the crowd could be a brick and it could fracture their skull. I'm just asking that they realize that the lives on the other side are just as fragile.



PS
When I say life is fragile I am not just talking about death. This is not the movies where the action hero can take all kinds of damage and be fine in the sequel. Many injuries never heal quite right. People wear mask paintballing because a paintball to the eye could blind that eye permanently. Image the damage a rubber bullet could do. There were children in that crowd in oakland.

PSS

possible blow back from this crackdown: Major cities buying Pain Rays. Pain rays are microwave broadcasts that makes everyone in an area feel like they are on fire. Pain rays are probably way safer than other crowd control but that also means police will be less hesitant to use them