The effort to reduce the chances of killing people by both police
and the military is growing. Here I will discuss some of the ways they
are trying to keep people alive in an arrest situation, or in a riot.
Less than lethal technology:
1) Those that sting: Weapons such as
bean bag rounds and rubber bullets have been around for a while. But they
can be potentially deadly if shot from too close a range, or a ricochet as the
case with the rubber balls. As such, new rounds have been developed that
disperse the energy over a larger surface area of the body to reduce the
chances of an accidental death. One such round is a piece of plastic that
is just a large plastic ring that is an about 1 inch in diameter. On
impact this plastic ring hits a large surface area and gives a nice oomph to
knock a target off their feet, but does not concentrate the blow so as to avoid
internal injury. Alternatively, other less than lethal guns like the bean
bag round are getting upgrades that release the gas pressure that launches the
bag so as to reduce the force of the bag as the intended target comes closer.
As such, the gun automatically adjusts the power of the blow based on the
range to the target so as to avoid accidental death as well.
2) Paint ball guns: These guns have
pepper spray inside the ammunition, but alternatively there is stink balls that
literally smell like rotten fish and other very smelly things that make people
heave at the mere smell of it. All this is to disable an opponent and
make them run away or surrender so as to get the smell (or pepper spray) washed
off.
3) Electrified water: Past water
cannons are so powerful that they can rip skin off a person’s body. But
instead water sprayers with reduced power are being developed that introduces
an electrical charge to get a similar result to a Taser. This reduces
damage to the human body while increasing range and ammunition capacity so as
to take on larger groups.
4) Directed energy weapons:
Microwave technology has been advanced where they can heat the upper
layer of your skin so that it feels like you just opened a really hot oven.
Thus driving you away from a specific location. They have a similar
weapon that can destroy a car, and others if the car is suitably equipped to
simply shut down the car temporarily. And of course there is directed
sound waves that also can annoy a target and deafen the target if they do not
heed warnings, so as to drive the intended target away or force them to submit.
5) Frictionless and sticky:
Two chemicals have been developed that do two very opposite effects.
One is a frictionless coating that can cause any surface to become so
slippery that it is like walking on a sheet of ice. The other is a
chemical that causes shoes to stick to any surface as well, and even people to
stick to the ground. Both are designed to reduce mobility and can be
either sprayed by a water cannon, used as a paintball round, or used in a
grenade.
Conclusion: The market to reduce death is very
wide. Many of these weapons are already in the field, being used by both
the military and/or police. Truth is, there are many situations where
being forced to kill someone is less than optimal, as such, less than lethal
weaponry exists. I look forward to what the future holds for these
interesting little devices.
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