You can’t stop a shooter with a line of national guardsmen. You also can’t figure out where they are in a timely fashion without someone with a vantage point.
There is a lot special about a sniper, including more and regular training specifically for the role. A sniper also (typically) is not in the heat of the situation. Nobody is throwing a brick up to the 5th floor. For similar reasons, a sniper can’t beat the crap out of someone from the 5th floor.
That’s extremely different from a national guardsman, especially like those that were sent to Kent with automatic rifles, minimal training, and placed right next to the protestors. From what I understand this has improved following the Kent State massacre, however the national guard should be a last resort in these situations.
The fact is that absent some specific threat the department received, or some extra-special high value target/event (Superbowl, presidential address, etc) the use of snipers to “protect” the protesters is a farse.
By the time that happens it’s too late. You’ve got a panicked crowd, you have no visibility, and nobody in a position to take a shot. There’s a reason they use snipers in big public sporting events, gatherings, and while protecting a public figure.
The thing that’s fundamentally wrong with the argument that snipers aren’t there to protect protestors is that they’re regularly used in these exact same situations for any large public gathering (unlike riot police).
They had snipers at the Marietta Sternwheel Festival the last few years. This isn’t some fringe thing, it has nothing to do with the fact they’re protestors or protecting property. It’s about protecting people by keeping an eye on the situation and (possibly) taking an individual threatening the gathering out quickly if necessary.