White nationalists attend a rally on October 28, 2017 in Shelbyville, Tennessee. The event billed as a White Lives Matter rally is hosted by Nationalist Front, which is a coalition of several white supremacist organizations. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Bats, pepper spray, glass bottles and other items have been banned from protests after a vote from Los Angeles lawmakers on Tuesday.
The items were banned in a 13-1 vote on an ordinance that would prohibit a large list of items. Things like metal pipes, swords, tiki torches, bricks, signs not made of soft material, and shields made of wood, metal or hard plastic have all been banned from rallies, demonstrations and public assemblies.
Councilman Mitchell Englander championed the new law in the wake of violent confrontations between protesters in Charlottesville, and Berkeley. He said the new restrictions will help keep protesters safe while not infringing on free speech rights.
The ban has been criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California who say many of the items banned are already prohibited from being carried in public by existing laws. The group says the new law will end up criminalizing common acts like carrying soda bottles, or metal signs.
The new law will likely go into effect in the next few days.
Here's the full list of items that you can no longer carry at rallies, protests or demonstrations:
- Metal pipes
- Plastic pipes, except for thin hollow ones to hold up signs or puppets
- Signs that are not made out of soft material
- Baseball bats
- Pepper spray
- Any aerosol spray
- Catapults or wrist rockets
- Firearms, pellet guns and BB guns
- Knives and swords
- Razor blades
- Nunchucks and other martial arts weapons
- Stun guns
- Chains longer than 20 inches
- Balloons or containers filled with noxious material
- Glass bottles
- Open flame torches or lanterns
- Metal, wood or hard plastic shields
- Bricks, rocks or pieces of asphalt
- Pellets or ball bearings