
An American Father and Son Exporting Tear Gas to Hong Kong - johnny313
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosalindadams/tear-gas-hong-kong-made-in-usa
======
qaq
Hmm Lockheed Martin, Raytheon etc. have being exporting weapons system to
brutal dictatorships for decades

~~~
sdinsn
Note that when exporting weapon systems they need approval from DoD and other
federal agencies. But tear gas is not covered by those export laws. Just DoC
which isn't a big deal.

~~~
cairo_x
People always bring the DoD thing up as if it's a valid excuse, or that it
somehow transfers moral responsibility to the DoD. Like there being legal
loopholes to get what they want makes it OK to flaunt their psychopathy.

~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _Like there being legal loopholes_

It’s not a loophole. It’s the point of the law. We export weapons under the
guidance of our government. There is a political check on munitions. Not
everyone likes the defense industry, but banning weapons exports polls
terribly.

In this case, that democratic check is released. That makes it different from
traditional weapons exports.

~~~
cairo_x
*moral/ethical loophole.

------
lancebeet
I wish the article would shed some light on why the police doesn't use
domestically produced tear gas. I don't understand how it can be feasible for
them to import tear gas to Hong Kong from the US.

~~~
humantiy
Previously working for a company that did create some less than lethal
equipment, I can say few main reasons. One being proprietary knowledge into
the devices as well as capabilities to get specific chemicals required to
manufacture some of which are highly regulated. The other and probably the
largest reason is the margins (profits) and quantities produced are not that
large. This is normally why you see defense contractors who have other means
of profits do this since its something they can bundle into a sale for law
enforcement. That would be my main guess for import low need and cheaper to
just import stock vs setting up an entire factory not to mention the
requirements necessary to store the chemicals safely. The image in the article
does do a good job of showing how they have physically separated the buildings
on the property.

------
newguy1234
It doesn't matter if the USA blocks exports of tear gas to HK. They will just
buy from other countries. If you really want to stop what is going on in HK
then stop buying Chinese made goods.

~~~
Leary
The Chinese would rather be poor than lose Hong Kong. Better way would be to
encourage civil societies/ democratic reform in China

~~~
tomohawk
It's about more than just HK. It is about the Uighurs being put in
concentration camps. It is about the harvesting of organs from political
prisoners. It is about illegally occupying Tibet. It is about illegally
occupying the South China Sea. It is about many things.

[https://chinatribunal.com/final-judgement-
report/](https://chinatribunal.com/final-judgement-report/)

------
imgabe
Who sells tear gas to US police departments? Who sold the bullets that shot
the kids at Kent State? How about we hold the actual people giving the orders
to fire the tear gas accountable instead of random vendors?

~~~
detaro
That's exactly the difference between your examples and this: your examples
are easily within reach of US accountability, foreign governments not really,
so their suppliers are the closest target.

------
ngcc_hk
Why outdated one which might release cynaide etc are used if it is so easy to
be obtained and so cheap? Our tube and Neigbourhood are affected by these
indiscriminate use of TG.

------
_bxg1
Do these not fall under arms dealing laws?

~~~
microcolonel
That's a big fat maybe, but AFAIK if they got permission it's probably fine?

The Department of Commerce regularly approves exports of tear gas products and
formulations considered "dual-use" (military or police), and the State
Department handles other forms. The government of Egypt was able to purchase
American tear gas in the late 00s and early 10s.

------
ivanhoe
According to a number of other sources tear gas for Hong Kong is produced by
Chemring Group, UK?

[https://graphcommons.com/graphs/f042fe57-cf19-458b-b390-8cf6...](https://graphcommons.com/graphs/f042fe57-cf19-458b-b390-8cf6fc2a2cca)

[https://twitter.com/Omega_RF/status/1138752537878781952](https://twitter.com/Omega_RF/status/1138752537878781952)

[https://theferret.scot/chemring-hong-kong-tear-
gas/](https://theferret.scot/chemring-hong-kong-tear-gas/)

------
meshr
Is there a list of companies who make money on violence? I'd like to ban them
on using my products. I could find only this
[https://wikileaks.org/hackingteam/emails/emailid/31778](https://wikileaks.org/hackingteam/emails/emailid/31778)

~~~
joelx
Why is this comment downvoted?

------
remotecool
They are only investigating this company because they don't like the
government cracking down on protestors in HK.

Tear gas is better than bullets.

~~~
oro92
Journalists investigating current events? Huh.

Next you’ll be telling me scientists only investigate results of experiments!

Police only investigate results of crimes!

What’s next? Washing laundry after it’s dirty?

Where will it end!!

