Using non-lethal force was inevitable and advised, mostly because the illegal alien invaders were unlikely to be deterred by passive measures like barbed wire, but in a sense should have been used earlier as an exercise of sovereignty. Texas has appeared to realize that moving up the use-of-force continuum is required. And it looks like we have the first evidence that less-than-lethal force is back on the table.
It is not clear on the video that Texas National Guard and State Troopers are actually using less-than-lethal force; the weapons in the video appear to be 40 mm grenade launchers or perhaps pepper ball launchers. Generally the 40 mm launchers use less-than-lethal impact rounds-foam, rubber, or plastic rounds designed to stun the subject, with pepper ball launchers firing pellets of oleoresin capsicum designed to break on impact and disperse in powdered form.
It is uncertain how wide-spread this new evolution of tactics is at the border, we have only this one video and no story.
Hopefully more aggressive force is back on the menu.
Federale 