Have you ever been around tear gas? You are lucky to see a foot in front of you and you are doing everything you can to not hack up a lung. I am certain if that wasn’t a factor you would have seen more heroics (like we have in other instances), but the average civilian has never been around tear gas and would have trouble coping, at that acting heroic.
I’m trying to figure out why he brought in tear gas or the gas mask.
Maybe he saw one too many movies thinking he would camouflage himself as a SWAT or police officer and leave the scene unchallenged in the mayhem.