OUTSIDE LIBERAL CIRCLES, THE TEAR GAS WON'T LEAD TO MUCH OUTRAGE

You may think this will shock America's conscience:

U.S. border agents fired tear gas on hundreds of migrants protesting near the border with Mexico on Sunday after some of them attempted to get through the fencing and wire separating the two countries....

But I lived through 1970:

A Gallup Poll taken shortly after the shootings at Kent State revealed that 58% of the respondents believed the responsibility for the deaths lay with the demonstrators; only 11% blamed the National Guard. As the author of a book about the shootings would later write, “These were the most popular murders ever committed in the United States.”

And I don't assume that America would be horrified if border agents were using live ammunition. This just happened:

A Border Patrol agent was acquitted Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter in the deadly shooting of a Mexican teen, court records show.

Lonnie Swartz was accused of shooting through a border fence in Nogales, Arizona, in 2012 and killing 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez, who was on the Mexican side of the border. The agent fired 14 to 30 shots and 10 of those bullets hit the teen, officials said.

Swartz said he shot through the fence because he was getting attacked by rock throwers and feared for his life, the Arizona Republic reported.

In April, he was acquitted of second-degree murder, but the jury was deadlocked on voluntary and involuntary manslaughter charges.

On Wednesday, a federal jury in Tucson, Arizona, found Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter but they were unable to reach a verdict on a voluntary manslaughter charge.

There isn't widespread outrage about this case.

The tear gas is presented as a prudent measure falling short of lethal force -- and hey, it's harmless!

On Fox & Friends, Border Patrol Foundation president defends pepper spraying latinx migrants because “it’s natural. You could actually put it on your nachos and eat it.” pic.twitter.com/QLdQXqqNno

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) November 26, 2018

The polling on immigration generally leans liberal -- poll respondents favor the Dreamers, oppose the wall and family separation, and think immigration is generally good for America. But tear gas won't be seen as an outrage on the level of separation of parents and children. We'll see what happens if border conflicts turn lethal.