I used to think the same thing. How did only one person get shot? Why didn’t they shoot a few people outside of the Capitol and end the whole thing? As soon as a few people would have been shot, the vast majority of those insurrectionists would have ran, right? It’s basically what happened with Babbitt.

After watching a few documentaries, I think there were two reasons. One, the whole thing wasn’t a fluke. It didn’t happen by accident. People didn’t just get riled up. That whole thing was a legit planned and executed attempt by POTUS et al. to conduct a true insurrection while making it seem grassroots. The whole point was to let the crowd get as far as possible to intimidate the certification into caving to Trump. Because of this, they were ordered to not engage with lethal means. Two, they didn’t have the manpower because they were purposely handicapped. Had they opened fire, the wackos with legit firepower in the crowd would have fired back. This thing was a lot more violent than the news reported. There were situations in which officers went in knowing they might die. And in the moment, you don’t have the benefit of hindsight. This could have been a lot worse. The restraint they used was impressive. Now, I’m impressed with how well the Capitol Police handled that insurrection. I think there were officers there that day that history will hold as heroes.

Anyway, yeah, part of why it was so “compassionate” from the police was that the insurrectionists were White. But, they were ordered not to open fire by the same people that would benefit from the insurrection. And, they were handicapped and could have been overran had they opened fire. The fact that the police still prevented the insurrection is a testament to their professionalism and patriotism.