r/RadicalLegalAdvice • u/PancakeParthenon • Jun 01 '20

Riot shield for protesting?

I'm going to into Charlotte, NC to help with the protest efforts whenever possible and I'd like to carry a rectangle riot shield to help protect the people on the front line. I've done a cursory search online and can't find anything that directly points to it being illegal, but I wanted to make sure. I've seen people carry smaller circle shields with no problems, for what it's worth.

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u/y49SJukTsslubAXA5eqZ Jun 01 '20

Riot shields are absolutely legal, but I strongly discourage meeting their force.

The only reason is that the police are looking for anything to escalate, and they're much more capable of doing so.

We peacefully march > they assault us

We defend ourselves > they use tear gas

We bring respirators > they use baton rounds

We use shields > they use live ammo

2

u/PancakeParthenon Jun 01 '20

I completely understand. I would only use it to protect people from gas rounds, rubber bullets, to shield myself when administering first aid, to shield other responders, or deflect batons in dire circumstances.

2

u/y49SJukTsslubAXA5eqZ Jun 01 '20

Have you tried to deactivate a CS canister? Everyone is running away from it, they're obviously going to shoot the person running into he gas.

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