Weapons Whenever there has been any sort of difference of opinions between the government and the people over any law or enforcement, the people have shown their strong denial in the way of protest and rallies. Although these protests start with the measures of non-violence and peace, sudden unrest among the people turns these kinds of protests into stampedes and routs. In order to tackle these routes and control the distress, the police are allowed to use non-lethal weapons (weapons which may hurt a person but not kill them) guided by the government. But the fact turn out to be that these non-harmful weapons are quite dangerous. Here are a few types of so-called non-lethal weapons which are quite actually lethal.
1.Chemical-Based Weapons: Tear Gas
When a canister of tear gas is released and it detonates, it releases a foggy cloud that engulfs anyone nearby. Tear gas is a collection of chemicals that causes irritation in skin, eyes, and respiratory airways. Despite the name, tear gas isn’t gas but a pressurized power which creates a must when deployed. Though tear gas was a chemical weapon in World War 1. However, now it is illegal for current wartime use. And are now used as a weapon to control riots.
But no matter how much they say it’s not harmful to an extent it’s actually lethal for the body as it harms in particular organs severely. When we talk about the eyes it attacks them temporarily with redness, blurry vision, itching, and burning. But the permanent damage it causes is blindness, hemorrhages, nerve damages, and corneal erosion. Not only that it causes severe respiratory failure and skin-related allergies. Also, prolonged exposure to tear gas can lead to severe fluctuations in heart rate and blood pressure also leading to death. There is also another type of tear gases such as oleoresin capsicum ( pepper spray), dibenzoxazepine (CR gas).
2.Rubber Bullets
Rubber bullets were introduced by the British army in the year 1970 to control riots in Northern Ireland. Rubber bullets are not actually made of what they sound like completely instead are made of another material like steel band coated in rubber. Law enforcement professionals use them to disperse crowds while, in theory, to minimize the harm. They are used because of their weight and composition and how they are shaped, which allows them to lose velocity quickly, that way, they shouldn’t break the skin if they are fired at a far enough distance as they are intended while shot.
Rubber bullets are meant to be fired at the lower areas of the body such as the thighs where they are likely to do less damage, thanks to the protective muscle and fat and distance from the face, which is most vulnerable to serious injury. However when shot in the middle of the protests they are likely to hit the eye, back and head which can cause serious injuries like infections, nerve damage leading to paralytic problems, deep skin lacerations, and even organ injury leading to death.
3.Weaponized Noise
Noise is a common tactic for clearing people out of an area. Aside from being irritating noise can harm the body in two ways, both of which target the inner ear. 150 decibels are usually considered enough to burst the eardrums causing them to be deaf for a lifetime.
4.Electric Shocks to the Heart.
Stun guns have been a method of quelling and inviting unrest since the 1960s when law enforcement used rudimentary versions of the devices on civil rights activists. These guns deliver shorts of electronic current to the body and are designed to subdue assailants just long enough to retrain them. But they too can be lethal.
These weapons shoot two barbed darts sharp enough to penetrate the clothes and skin and embed themselves in the body tissues. The dart connects to a very fine wire that transmits five seconds blast of energy. The circuit is being completed from one dart to another through body tissues which cause the stimulation of skeletal muscles to twitch so fast that it gives a feeling of having a seizure. The darts if hits the wrong part of the body can also cause a heart attack or a cardiac arrest because these stun guns can mess with the hearts of finely tuned pumpings. Also if the current exceeds the time more than five seconds can cause brain injury or death.
This proves that all these nonlethal weapons are Lethal in every sense because there are no permanent measures or stability that the amount of harm is calculated and any wrong implementation can cause serious health issues and death which proves their lethality no less than actual guns and grenades.
