The poor unsettled teens that were looking for an outlet to express their emotions about the election of President Trump… yes, the asshole rioters, were caught with certain implements while doing their misdeeds.
UPDATE: I found a slightly better video which provided a better screen capture:
This is no doubt a hammer, and specifically a car body hammer similar to this:
They are nifty weapons: about a foot long and just under a pound in weight, they can deliver damage to property or serious bodily harm to an unsuspecting victim. It is also cheap as it can be bought for under $20 brand new.
The other time I saw live, but haven’t been able to find it in video was your basic crowbar. The one I saw looked like this one:
Fourteen inches long and weighing only two pounds, it is also a nice “tool” to open doors and skulls. Walmart caries it for $9.96 with free shipping on orders of $5 or more.
The next one I saw used twice was the Flagpole/Pike.
This one used the “flagpole to bash the cop a top of his head. Did not do a lot of damage and the officer returned pepper spray and chased after him. The pole might have been a tad too flexible, perhaps an aluminum tube.
This one is those “poor unsettled teens that were looking for an outlet to express their emotions” who were blocking a checkpoint and some people did not take kindly to their ministrations. The pole looks like solid wood about an inch and a half diameter, but the pole bearer made the rookie mistake of poking and leaving the pole where the attacked grabbed it. After realizing it was an “Oh shit, I done fuck up” moment, four more “yutes” came to help their friend from the grasp of the oppressor. One of the helpers ended up arrested and another one got smacked in the mouth and turned out to be a woman who immediately claimed victim status and whined about being attacked.
Next come a bit of arson:
Several people began pounding on the car. Villarroel, who is 58 and has driven trucks and limos for a quarter century, said he asked them to stop. With that, they turned on him.Random objects rained down. A sandwich. A half of a brick. Something cut his hand.”These kids, mostly they were kids, you couldn’t see their faces but you could tell they were young,” Villarroel recalled later. “I think they think that the limo represents people who are rich and use the limo.” He watched someone throw a flare into the car. He stamped out the flames with his shoes.Then police came, releasing pepper spray and flash grenades. They told him to get out of there.Before he left, Villarroel saw the crowd jumping on the limo. Then he saw the car catch fire.
Plain old road flare. You can find them at any car part store, online and even in Big Box Stores and rather cheap.
That comes about $2.83 per arson’s ignition source. Not bad if the user has a bit of brain on where to apply it.
Other than the flagpole, the rest of the instruments are easy to conceal and cheap to acquire. Anybody would have no issue dunking a crowbar or a hammer down a street drainage because replacements are legal, easy to come by and cheap. And against unarmed persons, they are deadly weapons that do not require much training, if any at all.
The other issue is that the “yutes” really do not care about breaking the law. They now that in riots, they are more likely be arrested, spent a little time in jail and then released on their own reconnaissance because the system is probably overwhelmed with similar idiots and it becomes cheaper to process them like cheap sausage and then, send them home.
Other than not being in the area with the idiots, there is no good solution if confronted with any of these weapons. A hammer or crowbar wielded against you appears to constitute deadly force which would allow for your own use of deadly force for self-defense, but you better be ready for the onslaught of crap that will come at you: These people are not alone, they have accomplices who will hide and destroy evidence and even perjure themselves in court to sink you. Pepper Spray and your own striking devices may help you not to look like an executioner but will not be as effective and your gun.
With idiots like this, there are no easy answers nor harmless results.
“Other than not being in the area with the idiots, there is no good solution if confronted with any of these weapons.”
Indeed. The only counter would be to escalate significantly.
True story: I’ve taken road-side emergency flares with me as an improvised weapon before I started carrying a knife.
Didn’t need to use them, thankfully.
This is one of the reasons a 10:1 disparity of force is required to put down social unrest.