The increasing militarization of police, and their use of “less than lethal” weapons including rubber bullets and CS gas is one of the things that was heavily discussed by the mainstream after the death of George Floyd. So was the tactics used by police,Blike ketteling peaceful protesters. But it was a problem before Rodney king was murdered too.

There has been a long buildup of Americans losing their rights to protest and freely express themselves even before the 9/11 attacks and Bush declaring a “war on terror” or Regan declaring a “war on Drugs”. Both of which were really just ways to militarize police forces against the communities they were supposed to serve.

Remember the whole, “Are you or have you ever been a Communist?” time of American history. You weren’t allow to freely express yourself as an American then either.

Really, it could be argued that our “inalienable rights” were just some gentlemen’s agreement that were never really ours, and many actively got punished and even murdered for exercising those rights.

Really, to answer your question, I don’t think anyone alive today ever experienced a time where it was ok to majorly disagree with the government. And after decades of letting police do really whatever they wanted and giving them military equipment, no one really thinks this is illegal because this is the precedent.