Baton rounds

Abstract

Baton rounds are the final step in a graded response to civil disturbance and have recently been adopted for use on the British mainland. Designed to be a less lethal weapon, they are still responsible for serious injuries and deaths. A review of the literature is presented covering the ballistics, demographics, and injuries resulting from the use of baton rounds and offering some specific management guidelines. The recent developments in baton round design and guidelines for use are described and the problems of terminology with plastic bullets are examined.

Non-lethal weapons and the sensory repression of dissent in democracies

“…This weapon was also extensively used in Chile during the 2019-2020 protests, in which more than 400 people lost the ability to see -many of whom now require prosthetic eyes (McGowan, 2023;Vergara and Luna, 2019). Developed by the British Ministry of Defence, rubber bullets (a later iteration being plastic bullets) were used first in Hong Kong followed by Northern Ireland in 1970 (Burrows, 2001;Hunter and Greaves, 2002). The pellet gun utilized in Kashmir is a routinized WSR that kills, disables and blinds.…”

Penetrating deep pelvic injury due to “less-lethal” beanbag munitions: a case report and policy implications

“…“Less-lethal” munitions are designed to cause incapacitation and are often used by law enforcement officers for crowd control. 1 These include projectiles made of rubber, plastic, foam, or metal pellets covered in cloth (ie, beanbag munitions). 2 Although less-lethal munitions are not designed to inflict penetrating trauma or cause severe injury, recent reports have demonstrated that this type of munition can indeed cause severe injury associated with significant morbidity and mortality.…”