How to Stop the Rioters

What we are seeing in the United States is not riots. It is mob rule. In Minneapolis, there has been a fifth night of looting and arson, and Governor Tim Walz is calling for 1,000 more National Gaurdsmen. Demonstrators in Atlanta, Phoenix, New York, and Washington smashed windows and burned cars. In Washington, tension was so high that the White House briefly went into lockdown. In Portland, Oregon, rioters broke into police headquarters and burned it. The governor of Georgia has declared a state of emergency in Atlanta. The Pentagon has ordered troops to be ready for deployment on four-hours notice from Fort Bragg and Fort Drum.

So far, arrests have been in reverse proportion to the level of chaos. In Minneapolis-St. Paul, there have been practically none, and the fires continue to burn. In New York City, where rioters have torched police vehicles but not buildings, there have been hundreds of arrests. There is a simple principle here: When rioters can overawe the police, they will loot and burn until there is nothing left.

There was a pathetic admission of this at 1:30 this morning, when Minnesota Governor Tim Walz held an emergency press conference, along with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, state Public Safety chief John Harrington, and General John Jensen of the Minnesota National Guard. The governor and the mayor said over and over that they sympathized with the protests, that it was right to be angry about injustice, but things had gone too far. They were especially grieved that some of the looted and burned business were owned by non-whites. Mr. Harrington, the only black at the meeting, was the only one who dared use the word “rioters.”

The central message — especially from Governor Walz — was that government cannot restore order. There are too many “demonstrators.” He said police can take only “defensive” action around important buildings and protect firemen; they can take no “offensive” actions against criminals.

A reporter noted there might have been order if police had enforced the curfew that went into effect at 8 pm. The flustered governor said that would have been impossible because so many people were out. He said it takes several officers to arrest one criminal, and that “demonstrators” are throwing bottles full of urine at arresting officers and even shooting at them.

Mr. Jensen of the National Guard said that in the face of so many people, his men can do only so much. But he said help in on the way: more troops, more cops.

Once they outnumber demonstrators three- or four-to-one they — might— start arresting them? Or is Minneapolis going to stand back and watch? Thugs in other cities will learn that if there are enough of them, they can loot and burn all they want, too.

There are ways to control crowds. Police use tear gas, pepper spray, beanbag rounds, flash-bang grenades, and rubber bullets — because they work. There are acoustic devices mounted on trucks that can disperse crowds with piercing blasts of sound.

As Jared Taylor has noted, it used to be common to maintain order with live fire:

The morning after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, Mayor Eugene Schmitz put up notices all over town warning that: “The Federal Troops, the members of the Regular Police Force and all Special Police Officers have been authorized by me to KILL any and all persons found engaged in Looting or in the Commission of Any Other Crime.”

Reports of the number of looters killed vary from a dozen to a hundred.

In December, 1913, the San Antonio River overflowed, and there was serious flooding in central Texas. The order issued to the state police was, “Shoot all looters, and shoot to kill.”

There was another famous “shoot to kill” order in 1977, after flooding in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. When Mayor Herb Pfuhl heard reports of looting he told police to kill looters, and as soon as the word got out, the looting stopped. . . .

Few people remember that when Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of Mississippi there was very little looting. Governor Haley Barbour explained why: “The reason, I think, was because I said people could shoot looters. I think it was a real deterrent.” Mississippi does not have restrictive gun ownership laws, and many citizens are armed.

Government is supposed to have a monopoly on lawful force. Today, in Minneapolis, criminals have a monopoly on force. Not to reassert that monopoly is capitulation to an outlaw rabble. Thousands of people living in our cities — and a great many of them are black — have proven that they will run amok if  normal restraints are lifted. Unless there is a prompt restoration of order, chaos will spread.

What if a looter were killed by a rubber bullet in the eye or a tear-gas grenade to the head? We would hear lamentations about the “sanctity of human life” and the savagery of shedding blood just to protect property. There would be shocked reminders that civilized societies operate according to certain rules. Sorry, but in Minneapolis-St. Paul, the rioters changed the rules. Day after day of lawlessness cannot be left to burn itself out. Firm measures against looters would no longer be protecting property; they would be protecting something infinitely more valuable: the order without which society cannot function.

Soldiers from Fort Bragg might be a help in the Twin Cities, but even they won’t be able to take control if they can’t use the tools that work. Governor Walz is wrong to say he needs more people to stop the rioting. He needs the will.