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A National Guard soldier called in to help quell protests in Louisville fatally shot Kentucky restaurant owner David McAtee.

Residents of Louisville were already reeling from the death of Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police detectives in her home when they attempted to serve a warrant according to A video reconstruction by the shows what appear to be violations of the Louisville Police Department鈥檚 use of force that led McAtee to allegedly fire a 9mm handgun at law enforcement, , which led to police and National Guard firing back and killing him.

As in Kentucky, governors in 30 states and the District of Columbia deployed National Guard units in recent weeks to respond to protests over police brutality alongside law enforcement. Guard units most often assist with natural disasters and security for large events, but responding to domestic civil unrest is also part of their core mission.

While uniformed Guard members patrolling the streets creates an unsettling visual, some experts say the National Guard is less likely than police to escalate a situation to violence during a protest thanks to centralized rules of force and standards of accountability. Though the killing of McAtee shows that these rules cannot prevent violence, experts say the Guard鈥檚 military standards are clearer and stricter than those police officers generally follow.

The military is governed by a separate federal legal code in addition to the civilian legal system called the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It is based on the idea that service members are held to a higher standard of conduct than civilians.

National Guard troops are different from active-duty in that they maintain their military service part time, and fall under the control of their state Governor and state laws, with the exception of Washington, D.C. But most states have either adopted the UCMJ for their military conduct guidelines very closely, if not verbatim.

鈥淭here鈥檚 not only the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but there鈥檚 very defined rules of engagement on how and when to use force that the military is held accountable to,鈥� said Emma Moore, a research associate on military and society for the Center for a New American Security. 鈥淭he police do not seem to have the same standards nor are held accountable within our legal system.鈥�

There is no national standard for accountability when it comes to police misconduct. That is one factor, experts say, that has led to a loss of faith in law enforcement over time. According to the CATO Institute, the that police will face consequences for misconduct is split: 46% of Americans believe police are not 鈥済enerally held accountable,鈥� compared with 54% who believe they are. The responses to a recent Pew Research Center on trust and distrust in America indicated that Americans trust the military more than police.

In the days of protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, it could be hard in many cities to distinguish between the National Guard and the civilian law enforcement officers deployed to the protests. Police forces themselves look more like military units than ever before, thanks in part to a that allows the Department of Defense to provide surplus military equipment to law enforcement, including armored vehicles, weapons, and even aircraft.

鈥淭he military gets equipment but gets substantial training, at least compared to the police, about how to use it and what to do with engagement,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淲hereas, it seems like the police get the equipment but haven鈥檛 quite gotten the appropriate training for how to actually use it in a way that鈥檚 appropriate for the situations in which they find themselves.鈥�

That鈥檚 not to say that it鈥檚 easy for National Guard troops to respond to mass demonstrations or that Guardsmen do not commit violence against protesters. These situations have been fraught since long before the . The New York Times called President Trump鈥檚 deployment of National Guard troops to Washington 鈥�.鈥� Guardsmen who responded to the recent protests against the killing of George Floyd and others responding alongside police.

National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Joseph Lengyel told reporters 鈥渢he civil unrest mission is one of the most difficult and dangerous missions that we do here in our domestic portfolio 鈥� this mission is an uncomfortable mission. They [National Guard troops] don鈥檛 like doing it.鈥�

National Guard units train to control crowds. Army units, including the National Guard, are required by the to undergo 鈥渋ntensive, realistic, and sustained鈥� training on the use of force and 鈥渋nterpersonal communication.鈥� on the use of force urge soldiers to 鈥渃ontrol emotions鈥� to 鈥済uard against excessive response and the urge to get revenge.鈥� Soldiers found to have disregarded the field manual could face criminal liability and expulsion from the military.

In contrast, just eight states mandated training for de-escalating tense situations for all officers, as of a . According to the operating of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., anything from blocking traffic to property damage can warrant the use of 鈥渓ess lethal鈥� weapons like chemical irritants, pepper spray and batons if other crowd management tactics don鈥檛 work.

Lindsay P. Cohn researches civilian-military relations as a faculty member at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. The concentration of law enforcement and military troops during recent police brutality protests in Washington, D.C., reminded Cohn of the 1963 March on Washington, but with a notable difference. In 1963, the federal government didn鈥檛 want to use the National Guard, so local authorities put a couple thousand Guard troops on inactive drill status and deputized them as special police, armed with batons. They mostly directed traffic.

In preparation for the march during which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would give his famous 鈥淚 have a dream speech,鈥� the federal government assumed there would be violence, and planned accordingly. The Justice Department and the Army made plans to convene a massive task force just outside of D.C. to be ready if things got beyond the capacity of local authorities, according to Cohn. But the violence never came.

鈥淭hat was a good example of restraint on the side of the government forces avoiding interfering with a peaceful protest,鈥� Cohn said.

In 2020, it was the federal government that to the streets of Washington in the face of peaceful protests, possibly at the expense of the with the American public.

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Editor鈥檚 note: A previous version of this story incorrectly named the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

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