The question unanswered is who shot first.
The NG there were little more than kids themselves.
Profs at Ohio universities were barring door entries.
In chem labs, precipitates automatically fell out, the tear gas was so thick.
NG lined the streets.
Thanks for serving.
I’m pretty sure the kids were scared shitless and shot in self defense.
I went into military at age 17 and was raised with guns.
I also know what a mob would do to you,
think of “black hawk down”
I saw that in Watts riots.
I’m sure the NG guys knew about Detroit.
There is no such thing as a peaceful
Vietnam war protest,
with over 500 hundred people there.
Not to the media, academia, politicians and most historians -- it's almost universally accepted that trigger-happy NG soldiers shot first.
But I don't think it's true. I read a very convincing article on the investigation once -- I wish I could provide a link -- that says the first shot was fired by a journalist who felt threatened, perhaps as a warning shot, and then all hell broke loose as the NG soldiers thought they had been fired upon.
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...There is no question, Mr. Davies says, that ["freelance photographer"] Norman was at the scene, that he was carrying a gun and that he drew it either right before or right after the shooting. Some witnesses say he fired his gun immediately before the Guardsmen wheeled around and began shooting....The photographer may have been a fulltime undercover agent for the University, which is known to have employed them, and the F.B.I. has recently admitted paying him $125 a few weeks before the shootings for information about a rightâwing political group.
https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/02/archives/the-truth-about-kent-state-a-challenge-to-the-american-conscience.html