On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 21:19:01 -0700, Louis Boyd
wrote:

There is no middle ground between a peaceful protest and an ambush. To
have a successful peaceful protest all of the protesters must remain
peaceful even if the opposition is not. At Kent State the National
Guard was peaceful though well armed. But a few protesters chose to use
rocks against troops with firearms. A thrown rock is a lethal weapon.
Before firearms became common tremendous numbers of battle deaths
resulted from thrown rocks (mostly from slings). The rock throwing was
exceptionally foolish as it justified (and arguably required) the troops
to fire in self defense. Had most of the protesters thrown rocks they
could have killed the guardsmen who were greatly outnumbered. The
fault (if fault needs to be assigned) lies with a few undiciplined rock
throwers, not with the National Guard.

Pot Kettle Black
Palestinian Rock Throwers vs. Kent State Students
Pot Kettle Black