Powerful commercial-grade lasers have been used by rioters to hurt more than 100 law enforcement officers protecting the federal courthouse in Portland in recent days, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) senior official Ken Cuccinelli.
“We’ve had more eye injuries from lasers … these are commercially available that you are seeing used now in Portland to a degree that we have never seen before,” Cuccinelli told the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the Constitution Tuesday during a hearing on Antifa violence in recent months.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is chairman of the panel, while Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) is the ranking minority member. The hearing was entitled “The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble: Protecting Speech by Stopping Anarchist Violence.”
“We’ve had more eye injuries than I can ever remember among our officers in another incident,” Cuccinelli continued. “Of all our injuries, eyes are number one, 113 out of 277” injuries to DHS officers in Portland.
Cuccinelli is performing the duties of the Deputy Secretary of DHS in an acting capacity.
The DHS official testified that the commercial grade lasers are able to inflict serious eye injuries within seconds, due in part to the human eye seeing green much more intensely than other parts of the color spectrum.
“Your eye, the human eye, sees the green part of the spectrum more brightly than, say, red, something like 10 times brighter,” Cuccinelli explained.
“The body has about a .02 second look-away reaction and one of the challenges is, if you are not looking at the person who is assaulting you with the laser, you can’t figure out who is performing the assault,” he said.
Officers are often assaulted simultaneously by multiple rioters using the lasers in a clearly coordinated manner, he said. Such assaults are much more difficult for officers to defend themselves against.
“This is sort of the Portland formula. There is peaceful protesting until 10 or 11 pm, and then they go away and maybe some of them come back, but the group that comes back is, A, much bigger, but also, they come back for violence,” Cuccinelli told the panel.
Also testifying before the panel was Erin Neeley Cox, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas and co-head of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Task Force on Violent Anti-Government Extremists.
In response to a question from Cruz, Cox said the FBI has launched “since May 28, over 300 domestic terrorist investigations. That does not include any potential civil rights violations investigations, or violent crime associated with the riots.”
Also scheduled to testify during the hearing was journalist Any Ngo, who has covered Antifa’s growth and activities since 2016. He came to national attention last year when he was physically assaulted by multiple Antifa members while covering demonstrations in Portland. Ngo told the subcommittee during his opening remarks that his family has received multiple threats of violence from members of Antifa.
During his opening statement, Cruz showed a brief video that contrasted peaceful demonstrations led by the Rev. Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement with a succession of violent scenes from the Portland riots that have been nightly occurrences for more than two months, as well as somewhat less regularly for more than a year before the present destruction.
Democrats on the panel offered few specific condemnations of the Portland rioters.
“Nobody is condoning violence by any one against any one,” Hirono said in her opening statement, but she devoted the majority of her comments to her contention that “white supremacists” were mainly responsible for the violence in Minneapolis following the May 25 killing of George Floyd by a local police officer, while accusing federal agents of “using violence and excessive force to break up these protests.”
Hirono accused Attorney General William Barr of directing federal law enforcement to use violent tactics in June “to clear Lafayette Square … so President Trump could get a photo opp in front of St. John’s Church.”
Protestors had set fire to the historic church near the White House, which has been visited by nearly every president following his inauguration.
“President Trump has ignored factual evidence showing that white supremacists have hijacked peaceful protests to incite violence and to stoke racial conflict such as in Minneapolis,” Hirono said.
A spokesman for Hirono did not respond to an emailed request from the Epoch Times for clarification on whether the Hawaii Democrat was suggesting that white supremacists were behind the nightly violence in Portland, or the illegal takeover of the Capitol Hill area of downtown Seattle, or of violence in other cities like St. Louis.
All the pissing and moaning here does nothing..this army that’s attacking Americans and property has been emboldened by the left…..Time for talk has gone by and I’m afraid the time for action is at the door…whether by whats left of the Government or by organizations that stand for freedom ..Have a plan
why cant we take a look at who is supporting theseanarchists ,someone must be paying them to continue the destruction
I’m surprised a right militia group has not opened up on a violent group like this, at least with shots fired over their heads as a warning. How far are these anarchists going to go before something like that happens? Scary!
These people need to be taken out….this is not Syria, it is America, so let’s treat them as Syrian rebels.
The rioters (whether Antifa or supporters of BLM) appear to be young (20s) white males & females. Had read early on that those infiltrators into the peaceful marches were bused and/or flown into those cities along with delivery of pallets of bricks, piles of rocks and later even Molotov cocktails. Plain-closed cops need to be in those crowds and arrest them when they break, steal, harm and/or kill people. These organized groups need to be held accountable.
Wonder how this would play out if law enforcement used these lasers on the rioters (I will not call them protesters). I image it would have very different consequences.
These laser users are nothing more or less than Snipers and Enemy combatants and should be responded to with traditional Snipers.
Fight back with the same tactics or considering they are a threat to their life, take other decisive deterrent action. These terrorists need to be stopped. Maybe we need the motorcycle guys there.
Absolutely nailed that profile of “Senator”. She is a disgrace.
Antifa and BLM are begging for a Kent State moment, to help the hapless Democrat Socialist Party topple President Trump. It is clear from the logistics and tactics of the riots (loads of bricks and other weapons drop shipped to strategic intersections, coordinated laser attack against police, etc.) that the violence in multiple cities and states is funded and directed by an organization headed by a globalist/leftist patron named ________ __________ (you fill in the blanks, since you probably know the answer).
Anyone using a laser is a coward – they can injure someone without threat to themselves. I don’t believe in the rioting, but some people are willing to risk injury for what they feel is a noble cause. We should still approach them with a force that would end their siege.
Use of force from the rioters should be responded to with equal or greater force. If police arrived at an in-progress bank robbery and the robbers started shooting at the police, the police would shoot back. When police are guarding a building and a mob attacks them with things like Molotov cocktails, pipes, bricks, and tries to blind them with lasers, this is the same as bank robbers shooting at police. It should be met with equal force. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen because we have america hating politicians who put the police in the line of fire, but don’t have the morals or spine to support them.
A suggestion for police departments being defunded; If you’re defunded, the first act should be to remove any/all protections being provided to the politicians who defunded you. Transfer those police members positions supporting the communities.
WH should send out notice, that anywhere in US that the protesters are using lasers against the police: that troops will be sent to that location and that all lasers will be taken away by force. We can not allow them to blind police that are doing their job for American people. If these thugs do not realize that the lasers are a lethal weapon, then they should not be out in public anyway.
Take a tip from Israel. They have a stink bomb they use on Muslim rioters. It’s a wonderful aroma similar to human waste and the odor of a skunk. It stays with the riot folks for a long while. And get this – it’s eatable! No one dies, but they stink like skunk and poop for quite a while. Thank God for the Jewish people.
Why doesn’t my clicking on comments register?
Along with every Democrat Governor and Mayor in the states where the violence is occurring.
Yes when all of this is over the criminals will be brought to bear. Just too short brained to think of it. My father always used to say “You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” Hope I’m around when the tide turns.
What the protesters should do is go to the homes of these democrat mayors and governers and protest at there homes and see what will happen.The democrats keep saying that it is there right to protest but they are not tearing down there property’s. Vote and get these stupid democrats out of office. Please
They need to be shot.
Those lasers work the same way tracers do – they work both ways. Get the point?
She, like all communists, should be assassinated.
“if you are not looking at the person who is assaulting you with the laser, you can’t figure out who is performing the assault.” This is absolute BULL !! I personally know if you point a laser at a police helicopter they can and do trace you in an instant! To say you can’t figure out who is assaulting is total BS!
Hirono from Hawaii is clearly another useless democrat who deliberately ignores the facts.
I cannot believe that ANY real American Citizen cannot see what this group of arrogant,elite,establishment, self entitled failures have and are attempting to do to Our Country.
Please, please,please…..the time for Patriots is NOW , we must save America from this attempt to take away our freedom!!
When is someone going to have the courage to ask Sen, Hirona where she gets her information that it’s white supremacists?
These tiny minds of the rioters shorted out, what the mayor and governor giving them permission to whatever they want to do to other people in law enforcement a green light. The Feds have had quite a bit of resolve not to step in front of the animals and empty about 15 clips in their sorry @sses and let the b@stards die in the street. It is time to stop this foolish crap and put these punks in their place with deadly force.
Senator Hirona is an absolute embarrassment to the Congress of the United States of America. She is showing that she is “on the side” of the terrorists/Marxist groups as opposed to the law abiding Citizens of our country. She needs to stand with the Constitution, as she pledged to due when she took office, or resign her position in Congress at once!
DO NOT screw with these criminals,hirona included.Do whatever is necessary to take soroyarses army down.
Treason is the name of the game!
!
The sale of these power lasers should be banned for sale to citizens. Sane as bumper sticker that says ” you suck if you need to go hunting with an AR-15 assault rifle”
Trump testing czar ( Admiral ?) said on TV , tell me one thing that we should be doing ” Over 28 experts responded to his comment & the general consensus is US needs Federal plan for coronavirus & support for testing. Right now states are in competition for supplies, & how can the pro athletes get tested so quickly? Trump needs to realize that defeat the virus & schools will open, economy will come back, and people will be able to go back to work. Defeat the virus is where all of Fed dollars should be going to get America back to normal.
Trump displays lack of understanding & delusion on how testing can be used to defeat COVID19. He thinks you can do too much testing & then told reporter to ” read the books, read the books” when asked about too much. I never did figure out what books he is talking about, but surely he is up to speed on what other countries have done.
Did anyone watch ABC on July 28th, 1-hr “American Catastrophe: How did we get here?” This is good summary of Covid19 history in US & cannot believe the missteps of CDC. Earlier testing & stopping travel from China & Europe would have made different America today. Any comments????
Hirona is a traitor to the USA and should be removed from office.
I would like to see the police set up PA sys and blast the baby elephant walk until they start crying and begging to have it turned off. worked on Noriega in panama.
you are forgetting the others nancy,chuck,jerry, oh and the absolute worst being (not sure human) Adam Shi*.
We kill terrorist in Afgandistan. We kill terrorist in Iraq. We kill terrorist in all of the middle east. What is it? our terrorist of a different breed or are they untouchable in dem dumas.
President Trump needs to send in 5000 or more of our military and put an end to this terrorism and assaults on officers. Just surround all of them and do what ever it takes to stop the riots. If some end up going out in body bags they deserve it. The Demonrats are pushing this crap, it’s part of their agenda to stop Trump and the people that put him there. Drain the SWAMP
I would install search lights aimed at demonstrator to make them more visible and make it more difficult for them to see.
What part of “Peaceably to Assemble” do they not understand?
Post snipers & when someone starts using a laser against the cops, take them out!!!
Give every Democrat (Communist) DEPRESSION!! Vote for Donald J. Trump and the straight Republican Ticket!!!!!
The NBA, MLB, and the NFL have all joined with the Marxist/Communist forces destroying OUR REPUBLIC!! Which is more important, watching rich Crybabies or Standing-Up for America?!!!!
Communism (i.e. Marxism), Socialism, and Democracy result in NO PRIVATE OWNERSHIP!!!!! A TRUE REPUBLIC means RESPONSIBLE PRIVATE OWNERSHIP!!!!! Remove Every Democrat!!!!!
We are in the middle of a Communist Revolution lead by the Democrats and supported by “The Swamp”!! Take back OUR Country!!! Be a Counter-Revolutionist!!! Remove Every Democrat!!!!!
That’s too nice
Feds Shoot to KILL!!!
Ya know what really aggravates the hell out of me Is that antifa would cease to exist without funding, law enforcement knows who is behind the money although the bureaucrats won’t get off their ass and do anything about it” I’m sure with the amount of death and destruction Soros and his kid have caused across the globe that an international consorted effort to freeze his assets would stop this insanity dead in its tracks !
mow em down a dead commie is a good commie
When an enemy uses a weapon first, they then may be subjected to the same weapon. Appeasement never works, as it only encourages further types of action. Chamberlin found that out, about Germany, when he tried appeasement , which to WW II
I think that the law should have the right to defend their selves and shoot any and everyone trying to hurt or blind them, I’m tired of those terrorist getting all of the protection when they don’t have to be out there like the law does !