📢 Tear Gas Is Banned in War — Why Is It Still Used on American Protestors?
Tear gas is banned in war but used on U.S. protestors. It causes trauma, silences dissent, and must be banned to protect democracy and human rights.
Tear gas is a weapon of war. It is so dangerous to human health that its use is banned on the battlefield under international law.1 Yet in the United States, it continues to be used against our citizens2 3 4— against people engaged in protest, civil disobedience, and exercising their First Amendment rights. This double standard should outrage us all. If it is too cruel for foreign battlefields, it is undoubtedly too cruel for our city streets.
Tear gas does not “keep order.” It inflicts trauma. It burns the eyes, sears the lungs, and can trigger life-threatening reactions in people with asthma or other health conditions. It lingers on clothes and skin, spreading exposure to children and families long after a protest has ended. It turns acts of conscience into health crises. And far too often, it is deployed indiscriminately, blanketing entire neighborhoods in chemical agents without regard for who is caught in its path.
Someone who has been exposed to tear gas will usually experience its effects for about 15 to 30 minutes after they have been removed from the source and cleaned off, the CDC says. Those who are exposed to riot control agents at close proximity or in a closed space can experience long-term effects, such as blindness, glaucoma or respiratory failure. CNN
The use of tear gas against protestors is not about safety — it is about control. It is about silencing dissent and intimidating communities into submission. But protest is not a crime. Civil disobedience has always been a driving force for justice in America, from the sit-ins of the civil rights era to today’s movements for racial equity, climate action, and human dignity. To meet these movements with chemical weapons is to betray the very freedoms this country claims to defend.
We must demand a nationwide ban on the use of tear gas against our civilians. Protecting public safety means ensuring the right to gather, speak out, and petition for change without fear of chemical attack. A free people cannot be gassed into silence. Proper security lies in justice, not in repression.
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Laurie Woodward Garcia (paid with hugs and kisses, not bought by special interests), People Power United
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_gas
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tear-gas-immigration-protest-chicago-area-broadview-rcna232494
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/19/tear-gas-protesters-broadview-ice/