Baton round

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Baton rounds, also known as kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs), are a less lethal alternative to traditional bullets. Baton rounds are designed to impact rather than to penetrate and are typically used for riot control.

Contents

Common types of baton round have included the:

Such munitions are meant to cause pain and incapacitation but not penetrate flesh. [1] However, baton rounds can cause death and serious injuries such as damage to internal organs, permanent disabilities including blindness, especially when fired from close range at the head, neck, chest, or abdomen. [2]

History

The use of baton rounds dates back to the 1880s, when Singapore police fired sections of broom handle at demonstrators in Singapore. [1] The Hong Kong police subsequently developed wooden baton rounds, but they were likely to splinter and cause wounds.

Rubber bullets were invented by the British Ministry of Defence for use against rioters in Northern Ireland during The Troubles,[ citation needed ] and were first used there in 1970. [3]

Rubber bullets tend to bounce uncontrollably, [4] and have largely been replaced by other types of baton rounds, including plastic bullets: solid PVC cylinders 10 cm long, 38 mm in diameter, and weighing 135g. They were invented by Porton Down scientists and intended for use against rioters in Northern Ireland, first used there in 1973. [3] [5] [6]

Injuries

In a 1975 study of injuries in 90 patients injured by rubber bullets, 1 died, 17 suffered permanent disabilities or deformities and 41 required hospital treatment after being fired upon with rubber baton rounds. [7] A review of studies covering multiple different munition types/designs, which covered 1,984 people injured by "kinetic impact projectiles" and found that 53 died, plus 300 permanently disabled. [2] Baton rounds can cause blindness as shown by their use by police in the 2019-2020 Chilean protests. [8] [9] [10] During the first 3–4 months of protests in Chile, rubber bullets contributed to have a toll of 427 persons with eye injuries, [10] an extremely high number when comparing to other protests or conflict zones in the world. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-lethal weapon</span> Weapon intended to be less likely to kill a living target than conventional weapons

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rubber bullet</span> Less-lethal projectile

Rubber bullets are a type of baton round. Despite the name, rubber bullets typically have either a metal core with a rubber coating, or are a homogeneous admixture with rubber being a minority component. Although they are considered a less lethal alternative to metal projectiles, rubber bullets can still cause fatal injuries as well as other serious injuries such as blindness or other permanent disabilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terminal ballistics</span> Projectiles behavior after reaching their targets

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bean bag round</span> Less than lethal round for shotguns

A bean bag round, also known by its trademarked name flexible baton round, is a type of baton round, fired from a shotgun, and used for less lethal apprehension of suspects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastic bullet</span> Less-lethal projectile

Plastic bullet can refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riot control</span> Measures taken against unlawful or violent crowds of people

Riot control measures are used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful demonstration or unlawful protest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoothbore</span> Weapon that has a barrel without rifling

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blank (cartridge)</span> Firearms filler device that produces an explosion but does not fire a projectile

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riot gun</span> Type of firearm

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A riot shotgun is a shotgun designed or modified for use as a primarily defensive weapon, by the use of a short barrel and sometimes a larger magazine capacity than shotguns marketed for hunting. The riot shotgun is used by military personnel for guard duty and was at one time used for riot control, and is commonly used as a door breaching and patrol weapon by law enforcement personnel, as well as a home defense weapon by civilians. Guns of this type are often labeled as breaching shotguns, tactical shotguns or special-purpose shotguns to denote the larger scope of their use; however, these are largely marketing terms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riot shield</span> Protection device

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flash-ball</span> Less-lethal launcher

Flash-Ball is a registered trademark for a less-lethal hand-held projectile launcher developed by French hunting firearms manufacturer Verney-Carron. Flash-Ball is intended to be used by riot police as an alternative to lethal firearms, bean bag rounds and plastic bullets.

37 mm flare or "1.5 inch" caliber is the specification for a common launching system for non-lethal and less-lethal ammunition. Such launchers are also often known as "gas guns" due to their original use by police for launching tear gas projectiles. 37 mm systems are typically smoothbore as rifling is unnecessary or even detrimental to the performance of the usual projectiles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sponge grenade</span> Less-lethal projectile

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot</span> Ammunition type for Tanks

Armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), long dart penetrator, or simply dart ammunition is a type of kinetic energy penetrator ammunition used to attack modern vehicle armour. As an armament for main battle tanks, it succeeds Armour-Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS) ammunition, which is still used in small or medium caliber weapon systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Riot Gun</span> Riot gun

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crowd control in Jammu and Kashmir</span> Methods employed by Indian forces to manage riots and protests in Kashmir

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References

  1. 1 2 Emily Yoffe (Oct 4, 2000). "What Are Rubber Bullets?". Slate.
  2. 1 2 Haar RJ; Iacopino V; Ranadive N (2017). "Death, injury and disability from kinetic impact projectiles in crowd-control settings: a systematic review". BMJ Open. 7 (12): e018154. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018154 . PMC   5736036 . PMID   29255079.
  3. 1 2 Melaugh, Martin. "A Chronology of the Conflict - August 1970". CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet). Ulster University. Archived from the original on 2022-12-24. Retrieved 2023-03-14. The rounds were intended to be fired at the legs of rioters or the ground in front of rioters [...] Often the weapons were fired directly at people [...] These weapons were to result in a number of deaths and serious injuries.
  4. ↑ Hogg, Ian V. (1985). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ammunition. London: The Apple Press. ISBN   1-85076-043-8.
  5. ↑ Rosenhead, Jonathan (1976-12-16). "A new look at 'less lethal' weapons". New Scientist. Vol. 72, no. 1031. Reed Business Information. ISSN   0262-4079. Archived from the original on 2023-03-14. Retrieved 2023-03-14. Thirteen year old Brian Stewart died in October from a fractured skull after being hit by a plastic bullet fired by the Army.
  6. ↑ Vines, Gail (1983-02-03). "New plastic bullets squirts noxious chemicals". New Scientist. Vol. 97, no. 1343. Reed Business Information. ISSN   0262-4079. Archived from the original on 2023-03-14. Retrieved 2023-03-14. Round for round, plastic bullets have killed more than four times as many people as their rubber predecessors.
  7. ↑ Millar, R.; Rutherford, W. H.; Johnston, S.; Malhotra, V. J. (1975). "Injuries caused by rubber bullets: A report on 90 patients". British Journal of Surgery. 62 (6): 480–486. doi:10.1002/bjs.1800620613. PMID   1148650. S2CID   20892343. Archived from the original on 2013-01-06.
  8. ↑ Montes, Rocío (21 November 2019). "La policía de Chile suspende el uso de perdigones tras herir a mil personas" (in Spanish). El País. Archived from the original on 21 November 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  9. 1 2 "Récord mundial de lesiones oculares durante protestas en Chile" (in Spanish). Cooperativa. 6 November 2019. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  10. 1 2 McSherry, J. Patrice (24 February 2020). "Chile's Struggle to Democratize the State". NACLA. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
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