Pardoning Capitol Rioters Is No Way to Restore Law and Order

The riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was a national disgrace. It was also a crime. Protesters physically forced Congress to adjourn its constitutionally mandated joint session and evacuate the building. There were assaults on police, theft, and an estimated $2.88 million in damage to property. A dozen police officers spent months recovering from injuries. Protesters who got inside the Capitol chanted death threats aimed at then-vice president Mike Pence.

As happens when chaos is unleashed, bad things follow. One protester was shot to death by a Capitol police officer while at the head of an angry mob pushing through a door. Three other protesters died of natural causes at the scene: two of heart attacks and a third from amphetamine intoxication after being trampled by a crowd. An apparently healthy Capitol Police officer who was pepper-sprayed during the riot collapsed eight hours later and died of a pair of strokes. No charges were brought for causing any of these deaths (as much as Democrats and the press tried to imply that they were criminal homicides), and only the shooting was tied by a medical examiner to the riot, but they reflect the danger of a runaway mob scene.