this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2025
179 points (92.0% liked)

In Person Activism

334 readers
1 users here now

"Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them." -Tim Snyder

A community for sharing information about ways to get involved with real world activism to make the world a better place.

Spend less time arguing about politics on the internet. The world is in trouble. Get out there and try to help.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
auk
179
How to defend against tear gas | infographic (slrpnk.net)
submitted 2 weeks ago by toaster to c/inperson
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
top 11 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 57 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Jesus fuck.

No.

Just, no.

A respirator will protect you only if it's made for particulates, and is rated to P-100 on N-100. For ~~4M~~(edit - 3M):, I like the 7093 cartridge, but there are a lot of different P-100 cartridges that are all readily available. Most particle masks are not even close to that. To protect your eyes, you must have a complete seal; a SCUBA mask will work, goggles from a hardware store will not. The fastest, easiest way to get good tear gas protection is to get a used M-40 or OM-90 gas mask, and an expired (but unused) NBC or CBRN filter. You can get them off e-bay for $100 or so. You don't have to worry about the expiration on filters, because you're not trying to stop nerve or mustarding agents.

DO NOT spray anything in your eyes except saline. Unless you enjoy damaging your eyes.

Edit 2: Glasses can't be worn with gas masks without breaking the seal. Contact lenses are a bad idea IMO, since you don't want to risk something that can cause severe eye damage if they're compromised. Spectacle inserts are available for most makes and models of gas masks; I think that the ones I tracked down for M40 masks were about $150 with polycarbonate prescription lenses.

Also remember to protect your head, since cops have been known to intentionally shoot tear gas canisters directly at people exercising their constitutional right to publicly assemble for redress of grievances. Your best option, if you can afford it, is a ballistic helmet off Ali Express or Ali Baba; those should run about $100, plus shipping. An NIJ-certified ballistic helmet will cost >$800; an uncertified helmet claiming to be made to IIIa standards should be fine for stopping a tear gas canister. A skateboard helmet probably won't, and a motorcycle 3/4 helmet probably will, but will also cost about $200. OTOH, a skateboard ('bump') helmet should help against baton strikes.

[–] Midnight 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I have had Maalox dumped into my eyes on many an occasion and haven't suffered any ill effects, but maybe if I become addicted to throwing rocks at cops it'll start to take its toll.

But I can also say with certitude the thing that will probably deal horrible long term damage to your eyes is repeated untreated exposure to all the fun varieties of tear gas the police have. Rinsing with bottled water or LAW is going to do far less harm than that so I wouldn't discourage anyone from it.

[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The advice given by opthalmologists for chemical exposure is always rinsing with lots and lots of water (...and seeking medical attention). I will choose the advice of medical professionals in most cases. :)

An addiction to throwing rocks at cops is a tough one to break; once you get a taste, it's hard to stop.

[–] Tiresia 2 points 2 weeks ago

Is that advice about how it would be ideal to have a professional eyewash station pumping tens of liters past your eyes? Or is actually specialized for street medicine where you're lucky if you have more than 3 litres available?

It's easy for medical professionals to speak about idealized circumstances that don't actually apply to you or to focus overly much on what little they do know, especially once you leave the narrow range of high-status medical problems.

If you look at the chemical safety data sheet of tear gas and compare it to the components of antacids (one and two), you'll find that it is more dangerous to have tear gas in your eyes than it is to have pure antacid powder in your eyes. Wikipedia lists the safe exposure for tear gas as 100 times lower than the safe exposure for antacid, with tear gas being able to cause scarring in the lungs while antacid merely causes irritation if inhaled.

Note that in those safety data sheets, the answer for eye exposure in all cases is several minutes of rinsing with fresh water. That means tens of liters of water per person, which is simply infeasible in practice. So our goal is not to remove irritants completely, but to reduce the concentration of dangerous chemicals in your eyes as much as you will likely be able to manage in the next hour.

Antacid chemically neutralizes tear gas. If applied in the right dose, that can reduce concentration of chemical irritants to far lower than an amount of water you can reasonably carry with you. If applied in excess, you need to apply a decent amount for it to be more dangerous than tear gas, and as long as the end result isn't as bad you can follow it up with a rinse with water and still end up ahead.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

If one is going to all that trouble, gas masks aren't particularly expensive.

[–] teft@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

Also, remember that tear gas canisters are extremely hot. Don't try to pick them up barehanded. Kick them away or use fireproof gloves to handle them and drop them in water. Throwing a bucket over the canister isn't a bad idea either.

One good thing about exposure to tear gas is you eventually develop a tolerance to it and aren't as incapacitated as the first exposure. Those first few times though can be brutal.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Which Maalox should I use, lemon or mint flavored?

[–] dditty@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago

Salt n Vinegar

[–] ODGreen 11 points 2 weeks ago

A reminder that CS gas is banned as a weapon of war by the Geneva convention.

Fine for cops to use on people though.

[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe 11 points 2 weeks ago

Gonna recommend the traffic cone method as a good backup for dousing/removing the canister.