Editing Non-lethal weapon (section)

==History==
===Military===
[[File:Tazer use on US Army soliders.jpg|thumb|Demonstration of the use of a Taser gun on US military personnel. The device was originally developed for use by civilian police.]]

In the past, military and police faced with undesirable escalation of conflict had few acceptable options. Military personnel guarding embassies often found themselves restricted to carrying unloaded weapons. National guards or policing forces charged with quelling [[riot]]s were able to use only [[Baton (law enforcement)|baton]]s or similar club-like weapons, or [[bayonet]] or [[sword]] charges, or fire [[live ammunition]] at crowds. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Non-lethality Policy Review Group at U.S. Global Strategy Council<ref>[http://www.m2tech.us/images/upload/Nonlethality-A%20Global%20Strategy.pdf Nonlethality: A Global Strategy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305103649/http://www.m2tech.us/images/upload/Nonlethality-A%20Global%20Strategy.pdf |date=2012-03-05 }}</ref> in Washington and other independent [[think tank]]s around the world called for a concerted effort to develop weapons that were more life-conserving, environmentally friendly, and fiscally responsible than weapons available at that time.<ref>''War and Anti-War'', [[Alvin Toffler]] and Heidi Toffler, Little, Brown (1993), Chapter 15, p.125–136.</ref> The U.S. Congress and other governments agreed and began an organized development of non-lethal weapons to provide a range of options between talking and shooting.

Recognizing the need to limit the escalation of force, research and development of a range of non-lethal weapons has since been undertaken internationally by governments and weapons manufacturers to fill the need for such weapons. Some non-lethal weapons may provide more effective riot control than firearms, truncheons or bayonets with less risk of loss of life or serious injury. Before the general availability of early military non-lethal weapons in the mid 1990s, war-fighters had few or no casualty-limiting options for the employment of scalable force and were continually at risk whenever lethal force was prohibited during sensitive missions.

In 2001, the [[United States Marine Corps]] revealed its development of a less-than-lethal energy weapon called the [[Active Denial System]], a focused high frequency microwave device said to be capable of heating all living matter in the target area rapidly and continuously for the duration of the beam, causing transient intolerable [[pain]] but no lasting damage. The skin temperature of a person subjected to this weapon can jump to approximately {{convert|130|°F|°C}} in as little as 2 seconds depending on the skin's starting temperature. The system is nonlethal (the penetration of the beam into human skin is only a few millimeters).<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/04/pain_ray_injure/|title=Pain Ray Injures Airman|magazine=Wired|first=Noah|last=Shachtman|date=2007-04-06}}</ref>

In 2004, author Jon Ronson cited an unclassified military report titled "Non-Lethal Weapons: Terms and References"<ref>{{cite book
  | last =Ronson
  | first =Jon
  | title =The Men Who Stare at Goats
  | publisher =[[Simon & Schuster]]
  | year =2005
  | page =[https://archive.org/details/menwhostareatgoa00rons_0/page/259 259]
  | url =https://archive.org/details/menwhostareatgoa00rons_0/page/259
  | isbn =0-7432-4192-4
  | access-date =2007-08-28
  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zarc.com/english/non-lethal_weapons/nlt-usaf.html |title=USAF Institute for National Security Studies: Non-Lethal Weapons: Terms and References |access-date=2010-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304191858/http://www.zarc.com/english/non-lethal_weapons/nlt-usaf.html |archive-date=2010-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 21 acoustic weapons were listed, in various stages of development, including the Infrasound ("Very low-frequency sound which can travel long distances and easily penetrate most buildings and vehicles ... biophysical effects are projected to be: nausea, loss of bowels, disorientation, vomiting, potential internal organ damage or death may occur. Superior to ultrasound...)", however no such effects had been achieved {{As of|2002|lc=on}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2002/March/Pages/Acoustic-Energy4112.aspx|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100719122933/http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2002/March/Pages/Acoustic-Energy4112.aspx|url-status=dead|title=''National Defense Magazine''|archivedate=July 19, 2010}}</ref>

In 2010, the ''Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate Non-Lethal Weapons Reference Book'' was created. The weapons in this book are currently in development.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://publicintelligence.net/dod-non-lethal-weapons-2011/|title=(U//FOUO) DoD Non-Lethal Weapons Reference Book 2011 - Public Intelligence|date=27 December 2011 }}</ref>

===Police===
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2012}}
Until the development of non-lethal weapons, police officers around the world had few if any non-lethal options for riot control. Common tactics used by police that were intended to be non-lethal or less lethal included a slowly advancing wall of men with batons, officers on horses trained to deal with policing situations, or a charge into a riot using the flats of sabers. Other reasonably successful approaches included shotguns with lower-powered cartridges, "salt shells", using [[Bean bag round|bean-bag rounds]] and ricocheting shots off of the ground. In the mid-20th century, with the integration of fire-control systems into major cities, police found that high-pressure fire hoses could be effective in dispersing a crowd (the use of [[water cannon]]s and [[fire truck]]s has remained an effective non-lethal tactic to disperse riots). Trained [[police dog]]s were also commonly used to scare and disperse rioters and apprehend individuals. In the 1980s the development of high-tensile plastics like [[Kevlar]] and [[Lexan]] revolutionized [[personal armor]] and shields, and led to new tactics for riot squads and other special-purpose teams. Officers could now stand up against violent rioters throwing dangerous projectiles without having to resort to lethal methods to quickly disperse the danger.  Coupled with the introduction of effective non-lethal chemical agents such as [[tear gas]] and offensive-odor canisters, and non-lethal impact rounds such as [[rubber bullets]] and "bean bag" [[flexible baton round]]s, riot tactics were modified to rely less on violent response to attacking rioters than on a return to the slowly advancing wall, with supporting officers firing non-lethal ordnance into the crowd to discourage advance.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Police officers on patrol were traditionally armed with batons or pistols or both, and non-lethal methods of subduing an attacker centered on hand-fighting techniques such as [[jujutsu]] and baton use. In the 1980s and 1990s officers began deploying non-lethal personal sidearms such as [[pepper spray]]s, and eventually [[electroshock weapon]]s such as [[taser]]s, which were developed for use by police and also found a market in [[Self-defense (theory)|self-defense]] by private citizens. However, these weapons were developed for non-lethal resolution of one-on-one conflicts.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

During the 1990s and early 2000s (decade), interest in various other forms of less-than-lethal weapons for military and police use rose. Amongst other factors, the use of less-than-lethal weapons may be legal under international law and treaty in situations where weapons such as aerosol sprays or gases defined as chemical are not.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Between the years of 1987–1990, after a three-year field study by the FBI's Firearms Training Unit; In 1990, the use of oleoresin capsicum was approved and used by the FBI, the first official law enforcement agency to do so.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

In the late 1990s and early 2000s (decade), police began to adopt a new pepper spray delivery system based on the equipment used in [[paintball]]. A specialized paintball, called a "pepperball", is filled with liquid or powdered [[capsaicin]], the active ingredient in pepper spray, and is propelled by compressed gas using a paintball marker similar to those used for the sport but operating at a higher pressure. The impact of the capsule is immediately painful (a pepperball's shell is thicker than a standard paintball and is fired at a higher velocity), and it breaks open on impact, dispersing the capsaicin with similar effect to aerosol-delivered pepper spray.  However, to be most effective, pepper spray must contact the eyes, nose, or mouth of the target; pepper spray on clothing or tougher skin has a much reduced effect.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}<gallery class="center">
File:Soundweapon1.jpg|Long range acoustic device mounted on police vehicle, 2004 Republican National Convention, New York City
File:Kravallpolis.jpg|Swedish police in riot gear, carrying an extended telescopic baton
File:Taser-x26.jpg|A Taser X26 making an electrical arc between its two electrodes
File:US Navy 020821-N-8252B-003 During training, a U.S. Navy Master At Arms is sprayed with Oleoresin Capsicum, a non-lethal form of pepper spray for use in riot control.jpg|Pepper spray training
File:Exploded tear gas can on the fly.jpg|Exploded tear gas canister in the air
</gallery>