{"id":478,"date":"2026-06-15T18:08:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T18:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=478"},"modified":"2026-06-15T18:08:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T18:08:19","slug":"us-is-terrorizing-its-own-citizens-with-less-lethal-weapons-victim-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=478","title":{"rendered":"US Is Terrorizing Its Own Citizens With \u201cLess-Lethal\u201d Weapons, Victim Says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with <\/span><\/i>a donation<\/span><\/i>.<\/p>\n

Read more Congenital Syphilis Skyrockets as US Has Shortage of Drug That Treats It<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On March 28, 18-year-old University of Southern California student Tucker Collins documented a protest outside the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even see any of the officers who had their weapons out,\u201d Collins told Truthout<\/em>. \u201c[I was] standing back from the crowd and, you know, focused on trying to frame up the crowd, and then the next thing I know, I can\u2019t see anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

A federal agent shooting from behind a fence struck Collins in his right eye with a .68 caliber FN 303 projectile, destroying Collins\u2019s eyeball and fracturing his orbital bone.<\/p>\n

While often mislabeled as common pepper balls, FN 303 projectiles carry more than just the chemical irritants found in typical paintball-style rounds. They have a hard plastic casing and a metal front payload, adding weight and kinetic energy to \u201ctemporarily disable\u201d targets with \u201ca sufficiently dissuasive level of pain,\u201d according to their manufacturer.<\/p>\n

\u201cLess-lethal\u201d weapons are broadly by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as weapons or instruments that are \u201cdesigned or intended to be used in a manner that is not likely to cause death or serious bodily injury.\u201d Such weapons include pepper balls, rubber bullets, tear gas, and more. While many of these weapons have the capacity to kill, they are often referred to as \u201cless-than-lethal,\u201d according to DHS.<\/p>\n

Despite their \u201cless-lethal\u201d designation, FN 303 projectiles have proven deadly. A Boston police officer killed Victoria Snelgrove in 2004 by shooting her in the eye with an FN 303 round.<\/p>\n

In January 2026, federal agents shot two people in the eye with FN 303 rounds in Santa Ana, California, at least one of which was at point-blank range and reportedly left the individual with a piece of metal near his carotid artery.<\/p>\n

In spite of the risks, officers continue to use them.<\/p>\n

Under Customs and Border Protection\u2019s 2021 use-of-force policy, firing FN 303 projectiles within 10 feet of a target is only authorized when deadly force is considered \u201creasonable and necessary,\u201d such as when an individual is determined to pose an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to an officer or another person. The updated overarching policy from DHS also considers \u201cuses of impact weapons to strike the neck or head\u201d deadly force.<\/p>\n

Scott Reynhout, a researcher with Physicians for Human Rights, studies what he calls the \u201cmisuse\u201d of less-lethal weapons, with a special focus on DHS.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing that\u2019s clear is that there\u2019s a lot of it,\u201d Reynhout told Truthout<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019d say the biggest alarming trend of misuse that we\u2019ve seen is people getting shot in the face. This is something that is not necessarily new.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics argue against the use of these weapons altogether because of the potential deadly risks, as well as officers using them to suppress free speech and the right to protest.<\/p>\n

Collins says he was shot while standing among many other people filming. He believes such individuals are targeted because they\u2019re filming federal agents committing illegal acts, including shooting him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey shot at me with no cause or justification,\u201d Collins said. \u201cAnd they have no need to be using these weapons anyways, especially in this scenario where there was no imminent threat to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Calls Iran Deal \u201cComplete\u201d as Questions Linger Over Its Terms<\/a><\/p>\n

Following the attack on Collins, federal agents continued firing pepper balls and tear gas in waves from behind a fence and into the crowd. They nearly hit more individuals in the face and struck journalists (including me) and protesters.<\/p>\n

No Sign of Slowing Down<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection have dramatically increased weapons spending since Donald Trump took office for his second term, according to a from the office of California Sen. Adam Schiff. DHS is reportedly spending upward of $50 million on \u201cless-lethal\u201d weaponry.<\/p>\n

Reynhout and other researchers with Physicians for Human Rights recently released a report on how U.S. law enforcement escalated the use of certain weapons to crack down on immigration protests. Notably, they highlight the use of inherently indiscriminate scattershot munitions that send multiple small projectiles in different directions \u2014 these munitions are included in the DHS purchasing spree.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir deployment against crowds cannot be rationalized as crowd-control under any reasonable interpretation of international standards and cannot be considered legal, even under existing frameworks that already inadequately regulate less-lethal munitions,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

Reynhout said previous Physicians for Human Rights research on crowd-control weapons indicated that 82 percent of all injuries reported between 2016 and 2021 came from metal birdshot projectiles, which he says are very similar to the rubber-ball scattershot munitions DHS is purchasing.<\/p>\n

The report also highlights federal agents using powder blast dispersion munitions, also known as \u201cmuzzle blast\u201d munitions, in the most dangerous way possible. These munitions, also included in the DHS purchasing contract, discharge a cloud of tear gas or pepper irritant from a grenade launcher. While they aren\u2019t technically considered a projectile, materials such as wadding and other debris can leave the muzzle and exceed speeds of 200mph, according to the PHR report.<\/p>\n

These muzzle blast munitions appear to have been shot through the fence at protesters in Los Angeles in the hour following Collins\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a troubling sign is that this has become the new norm, I would say, for how law enforcement deals with mass assemblies,\u201d Reynhout said. \u201cIt\u2019s just, \u2018Let\u2019s just throw more money at the problem and hope it goes away.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The PHR report offers multiple recommendations, from prohibiting the use of scattershot kinetic impact projectiles to limiting or restricting the use of powder blast munitions and certain chemical obscurants \u2014 most importantly, banning the use of HC smoke, a highly hazardous chemical obscurant used by DHS as recently as January 2026 in Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n

Crowd-control weapons are commonly referred to as \u201cless-than-lethal,\u201d or even \u201cnon-lethal,\u201d and the Physicians for Human Rights report concludes that this creates a pattern of risk where such weapons are subject to fewer regulations. The report adds that this may also lead to law enforcement using these weapons without exhausting deescalation techniques, something critics have pointed out at protests around the country.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s indiscriminate crowd-control weapons or more targeted munitions that can be deadly, both DHS officers and police departments around the country have demonstrated a willingness to utilize them broadly, even if it means suppressing free speech or injuring people in their line of fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think about that day often, just in the events of it, just of what could have happened,\u201d Collins said. \u201cI\u2019m enraged, but I\u2019m not surprised. This is not the first time something like this has happened, nor will it be the last. I think it\u2019s one of the most threatening things to us as a nation: the increasing force and authoritarianism that this administration is using to essentially terrorize its own citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more New Caf\u00e9s in Gaza Can\u2019t Conceal Tent Cities and Mountains of Rubble<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Human rights experts condemn the increasing use of weapons like tear gas, pepper balls, and rubber bullets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nUS Is Terrorizing Its Own Citizens With \u201cLess-Lethal\u201d Weapons, Victim Says - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=478\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Is Terrorizing Its Own Citizens With \u201cLess-Lethal\u201d Weapons, Victim Says - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Human rights experts condemn the increasing use of weapons like tear gas, pepper balls, and rubber bullets.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=478\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-15T18:08:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=478#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=478\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"US Is Terrorizing Its Own Citizens With \u201cLess-Lethal\u201d Weapons, Victim Says\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-15T18:08:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=478\"},\"wordCount\":1206,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=478#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/380d9b784d78261c4fad55a5172bfc54.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=478#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=478\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=478\",\"name\":\"US Is Terrorizing Its Own Citizens With \u201cLess-Lethal\u201d Weapons, Victim Says - 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