Rubber Bullets Not Effective, Study Finds

by Rob Edwards

In a study due to be published in January, researchers from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and Pennsylvania State University tested 79 different types of munitions fired to injure a target. These included rubber and plastic bullets, cloth "bean bags" full of lead shot, and capsules of pepper and tear gas, which are increasingly popular.

The researchers told the non-lethal weapons conference in Edinburgh in December that 56 percent of the rounds could not reliably hit a circular target with a diameter of half a metre from 23 metres away. And more than a fifth missed the surrounding impact plate, which was twice as wide. Firing munitions with multiple pellets at the ground in front of targets was sometimes more accurate than aiming straight at them.

The accuracy of these weapons, which had not been scientifically tested before, is vital to ensure that they do not kill. Major Steve James from the Springfield, Missouri police department points out that injuries to the head and chest can be fatal. But hitting the buttocks and legs just disables people for a few seconds, so the police can intervene, for example to prevent suicides.

The results of the study were revealed by Sid Heal from the LA Sheriff's Department. One surprising finding, he says, is that "ricochets from hard objects posed substantial hazards to friendlies [bystanders] at near range." During one test, a rubber bullet bounced off the target and smacked an unfortunate male researcher in the groin, temporarily incapacitating him.