this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
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In France, the worst they will likely be met with is water cannons, tear gas, and potentially rubber bullets/beanbag rounds.
In America, it's more likely to be automatic assault rifles.
French cops also shoot people who just drive away.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Nahel_Merzouk
Sure and that gets a wikipedia page for you to cite. You're not wrong, just heavily downplaying the problem with this whataboutism. It's not about France where this thing is an exception, but about the US where this is becoming the norm.
Police kill someone in France:
Massive violent protests, burning police stations and police cars
Incident condemned by government
Police kill someone in the USA:
Nonviolent protests
Government defends the killer
... AND THE HOOOME OF THE BRAAAAAVE
Ba dum tis!
This is redundant, by definition all assault rifles have auto or burst fire modes. Anyone (including lawmakers) in the US who claims otherwise is incorrect.
I'm not American. I'm only aware of them in passing. It's not the sort of thing we learn about in school, over here.
I learned about this stuff from video games. The MA5B is full auto.
You may be right, I don't know shit about guns, but relying on information from a video game is not the smartest. The person deciding on what mechanics the different guns have, may not know anything about the topic.
Yeah that's not true. Semiautomatic assault rifles are very common in the US, more available by far than full auto.
Assault rifles have select fire, by definition.
Burst fire is not available on civilian models out of the box in the US
Those are not assault weapons. Any legislator who says so is wrong.
If they want to ban weapons, fine, but use the correct terminology.
What about burst fire?
You say that like you can’t get your own automatic assault rifles in America.
You can't. I feel like you don't know what an automatic rifle or an assault rifle is.
You can, they just cost like $10k-$50k (if you want one legally).
Otherwise, crime gonna crime.
Lol yeah that's true. I'm just assuming they didn't mean that only eccentric rich people can get automatic assault rifles, whatever that contradiction in terms means.
I definitely am not talking only about eccentric rich people, you are correct.
Modifying them is trivially easy, so any can be full auto, but burst fire is superior anyway. Full auto is only for psychological coolness.
Oh for sure, I call it "a great way to turn a lot of money into a lot of noise" lol. It's pretty useless outside of specific military applications.
Not as easily as modifying a semi automatic.
French cops: using less lethals according to the manual.
'Merica cops: point blank, headshots (unless you're preggers), gas the kids
If you think french cops follow the manual I have a bridge to sell you
checks the Internet search engine
... ... I dunno, that feels like a pretty significant difference
That still doesn't mean french cops are not also dangerous during protests. I'm not trying to say they're more dangerous than your brown shirts, I'm saying that protesting also isn't risk free in France, and claiming that french cops follow the rules is simply incorrect.
When you look at the damage French protests cause vs the violence they incite in cops, it's relatively safe compared to the violence us cops perpetrate in retribution to completely peaceful protests in the us, or even just violence top bystanders in the US. Add in that French protests actually accomplish something and the risk benefit calculations are so totally different.
If you've only experienced french protests through international medias, you probably have a very skewed view of both the actual damage they create and their effectiveness.
Protests are famously attractive for the kind of person who enjoys hurting others, on both sides. Difference is that only one side can hurt others while being protected by the system.
They're all full of stories and excuses because none of them can figure out how to do anything beyond going out for a walk every couple months.
It occurs to me, pregnant women who want abortions in states where it is illegal should just go to a protest…
I get what you're saying, but if you ask me, being murdered by a fascist is a rather drastic method of abortion..
I have breathing issues due to being tear gassed too often, my left shoulder suffers from very painful tendinitis that will probably never go away due to being tossed on the ground / beat up, got an acquaintance who lost an eye to a rubber bullet, that's the life of a regular french demonstrator.
You are severely underestimating the violence of french anti-riot policing methods. Those weapons might sound chill due to being labeled "non-lethal", but they're actually quite lethal (people die regularly) and violate the Geneva protocol (tear gas usage is theoretically banned on civilians).
If you believe it's that relaxed, come demonstrate in France, see what it's like to be charged at by 100 dudes in full body armor swinging at you trying to do maximum damage while you're caught in a cloud of toxic gas with nowhere to run. You thought the press could cover your ass by filming the police violence, or that the government would do something about police brutality? Guess what, they target journalists too, and our govt encourages police brutality.
If you're looking for excuses, don't drag us into it. Protesting in France isn't an easy affair, we genuinely put our lives on the line every time we go out there. It's the police that decides how violent protests are, the reason you hear so much about french "riots" is because our police keeps escalating the violence. We have a peaceful nature.
Americans need to shut the fuck up about the rest of the world I swear. You're not that special.
Rubber bullets banned in many countries, people lose eyes to them in France
Tear gas long term health effects
Casualties from the yellow vest protests
Police violence on journalists
This documentary's trailer should tell you enough about our riot police situation
You're not special either. Plenty of people here going through the exact same shit you did yet nobody gives a shit and has to just keep piling on like idiots
I'm UK based btw. I had my tangles with the police at protests in my younger days. It's intimidating, even when nominally peaceful. I have a lot of respect for those of you willing to face off against the nastier crowd control methods.
It's worth noting that there is still a huge difference between what you dealt/deal with and shoot-to-kill military weapons fire.
If I thought it would help, I would (unhappily) deal with tear gas etc. I'm too old, with too much to lose to risk rubber bullets etc, but respect those that would. VERY few people would face gunfire without the ability to fire back. The American Left is not at the point where they are willing to escalate to that point.
Well if it's strictly about guns, then the american left has a point to prove about the second amendment.
Is it only there to help school shooters, or is it about well regulated militias opposing tyranny?
Waiting and watching.
Their biggest problem is media capture. With the loss of twitter to Musk, there's no large scale organisation path that hasn't been captured.
As the phrase goes. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"