They shouldn’t necessarily dictate policy, though. One of the more striking reactions to the Bundy occupation has been the demand that law-enforcement officers go in with guns blazing to remove the occupiers. “People across the globe have marveled that federal authorities didn't move to take back the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge,” the AP reports, though politicians from Senator Harry Reid to Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, called for a peaceful resolution.

Even if one finds the double standard on media descriptions galling, that doesn’t mean the answer is to apply excessive force equally to white and black people. One major argument posed by police reformers is that more police presence and action isn’t always better. Activists have accused authorities of overpolicing or being far too quick to resort to lethal force in New York, Ferguson, Cleveland, Chicago, and Baltimore. Critics have also complained that police aren’t trained adequately in how to defuse tense situations and are too quick to resort to force, whether lethal or not.

In Oregon, the FBI seems to be taking that lesson to heart. While the bureau has been intentionally minimal in giving out details, it says it’s working with local law enforcement to end the standoff peacefully. “This is not an armed takeover of school, which demands a dramatic response,” said Steve Ijames, a retired police officer and expert on use of force, who said officers have to balance the importance of setting an example to lawbreakers with common sense. “There are all kinds of discussions about the end game. Do we save face? Do we avoid appearing heavy-handed? Do we want to get in a shootout with a bunch of ranchers from Nevada, on principle? … How do we cause this to be resolved with the least damage?”

The point here is not to let the Bundy gang off the hook. It’s to ensure effective prosecution without loss of life. Ijames said federal law-enforcement officials learned some tough lessons about how to deal with tense standoffs like this. Even if the federal government has seen some roughly similar situations, there’s still no single playbook for a case like Oregon. Police deal with people who have barricaded themselves all the time, but most of those cases are people involved in minor crimes who are acting in self-destructive ways. There are few out-and-out standoffs like a bank robber holed up, and even fewer liked the armed band at Malheur, Ijames said. Even the 1993 Waco siege began when ATF agents tried to serve search warrants at the Branch Davidian compound for suspected weapons violations—not with the seizure of a federal building, as is the case with the Bundys.

The demand the Bundy crew be labeled as “terrorists” or an “insurrection” is closely intertwined with these questions about how to resolve the standoff. Using the label implies that police ought to use whatever violence necessary to end the takeover. Isn’t that how terrorist attacks are handled?