Thought Experiment re: Dispersing Rioters

Note: I'm not encouraging or condoning unlawful activity, but raise this as a thought experiment. 

    The biggest problem that the private citizen faces when it comes to dealing with rioters and looters is that of law enforcement bias by the police and prosecutors. That is, the police mostly refuse to do anything to stop or disperse rioters (and even if they make arrests, liberal prosecutors and/or judges will quickly release the rioters back onto the street); but if the private citizen tries to do anything, the police and prosecutors will go after that person with the full weight of the law. 

    Back in 2014, I ruminated about defense against mobs, and noted research on the topic of mobs showing: "When people are part of a group, they often experience deindividuation, or a loss of self-awareness. When people deindividuate, they are less likely to follow normal restraints and inhibitions and more likely to lose their sense of individual identity." 

    I thought that this deindividuation might be key to defeating a mob, citing to Genesis, Chapter 19, where two angels of the Lord had traveled to Sodom to evacuate Lot and his family from the city prior to its destruction. The two angels, in that case, dispersed a mob that had gathered at Lot's home by blinding them. The lesson, I believed, was that a successful defense from a mob would require (a) reversing the deindividuation or loss of self-awareness--essentially, make the person feel isolated from his/her compatriots; and (b) raising the individual member's sense of responsibility or personal consequence.

    You can see this in action by looking at the embedded video in this Daily Mail article showing the events leading up to Kyle Rittenhouse's shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum. Specifically, after a protester, Alexander Blaine, discharged a handgun, Rittenhouse stopped fleeing and turned toward Rosenbaum and fired four times. An unknown person then fired a weapon three times. As the video shows, the mob that had been converging on Rittenhouse immediately scattered after the flurry of shots. The potential personal consequence had become too much for the individuals that were part of the mob.

    But is there a way to both defend against a mob and avoid (or, at least, reduce the risk of) prosecution? This past weekend, I came across an article on USCCA's blog about using 37mm pyrotechnic rounds with the Ordnance Group Tac-D Pivot Underbarrel Launcher. The author suggested flash bang and concussion rounds (which I think still raises the specter of prosecution), but mentioned that smoke rounds might also be useful. 

    In Portland, rioters had used smoke grenades to conceal their identities as they barricaded exits from the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse. But the private citizen defending his neighborhood, home, or business could also use a sufficient number of smoke grenades to conceal what he (or, preferably, someone else) was doing. That would protect against both later identification and assist with reversing the deindividuation of the participants by largely blinding them to what was going on around them. Couple this with some activity--perhaps setting off fireworks among the rioters--while the rioters are blinded, and it might be enough to restore some sense of responsibility or personal consequence to the individual members of the mob. And if the smoke obscured who was responsible for the activity (e.g., setting off fireworks), then video identification of the person(s) might be impossible absent hi-res thermal imaging.

    Any thoughts or criticisms are welcome.