Editing Slingshot (section)

==Use and history==
Slingshots depend on strong [[Elasticity (physics)|elastic]] materials for their [[projectile]] firepower, typically [[vulcanization|vulcanized]] [[natural rubber]] or the equivalent such as silicone rubber tubing, and thus date no earlier than the invention of vulcanized rubber by [[Charles Goodyear]] in 1839 (patented in 1844).  By 1860, this "new engine" had established a reputation for use by juveniles in vandalism. For much of their early history, slingshots were a "do-it-yourself" item, typically made from a forked branch to form the Y-shaped handle, with rubber strips sliced from items such as [[Tire#Inner tube|inner tubes]] or other sources of good vulcanized rubber, and using suitably sized stones.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

While early slingshots were most associated with young vandals, they could be effective hunting arms in the hands of a skilled user. Firing projectiles, such as lead [[musket]] balls, [[Shotgun shell#Buckshot|buckshot]], [[steel]] [[ball bearing]]s, [[Pellet (air gun)|air gun pellets]], or small [[Nail (fastener)|nails]], a slingshot was capable of taking game such as quail, pheasant, rabbit, dove, and squirrel.  Placing multiple balls in the pouch produces a [[shotgun]] effect (even though not very accurate), such as firing a dozen [[BB gun|BBs]] at a time for hunting small birds.  With the addition of a suitable rest, the slingshot can also be used to shoot [[arrow]]s, allowing the hunting of medium-sized game at short ranges.<ref name=whamo_book>{{cite book |title=Wham-O Hunting Slingshot |url=http://www.slingshot-shooting.de/various/booklets/whamo.html |publisher=Wham-O Manufacturing Co. |year=1963}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Illustrated World |volume=37| issue =  1 |page=318 |date=March 1922 |publisher=R. T. Miller Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ufbNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA318|title=How to Make a Slingshot for an Arrow}}</ref><ref name=mmrubber>{{cite web |url=http://www.slingshot-shooting.de/construction/rubber/rubber.html |title=Rubber Bands |author= Melchior Menzel}}</ref>

While commercially made slingshots date from at latest 1918, with the introduction of the Zip-Zip, a cast iron model,<ref>{{cite web |title=The ZipZip |url=http://www.slingshot-shooting.de/vintage/database/vintage.html#zipzip |author=Melchior Menzel}}</ref> it was not until the post–[[World War II]] years that slingshots saw a surge in popularity, and legitimacy. They were still primarily home-built; a 1946 ''[[Popular Science]]'' article details a slingshot builder and hunter using home-built slingshots made from forked [[Cornus (genus)|dogwood]] sticks to take small game at ranges of up to {{convert|30|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip|0}} with No. 0 lead buckshot ({{convert|0.32|in|mm|0|abbr=on|disp=sqbr|order=flip}} diameter).<ref name="popsci">{{cite journal |author=Tom Cushing |date=July 1946 |title=Rubber-Band Sharpshooter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LiEDAAAAMBAJ |journal=Popular Science |pages=154–155}}</ref>

The [[Wham-O]] company, founded in 1948, produced the Wham-O slingshot. It was made of [[Fraxinus|ash wood]] and used flat rubber bands.  The Wham-O was suitable for hunting, with a draw weight of up to {{convert|45|lbf|N|abbr=off|lk=on|order=flip}}, and was available with an arrow rest.<ref name=whamo_book /><ref name=giantkiller>{{cite journal |journal=Mechanix Illustrated |title=Return of the Giant Killer |date=April 1951 |author=Robert Hertzberg |url=http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/01/12/return-of-the-giant-killer/ |access-date=2011-04-22 |archive-date=2012-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309123631/http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/01/12/return-of-the-giant-killer/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The National Slingshot Association was founded in the 1940s, headquartered in [[San Marino, California]]. It organised slingshot clubs and competitions nationwide. Despite the slingshot's reputation as a tool of juvenile delinquents, the NSA reported that 80% of slingshot sales were to men over 30 years old, many of them professionals. John Milligan, a part-time manufacturer of the [[aluminium]]-framed John Milligan Special, a hunting slingshot, reported that about a third of his customers were physicians.<ref name=giantkiller />

Slingshots are also occasionally used in [[angling]] to disperse bait over an area of water, so that fish may be attracted.

A home-made derivative of a slingshot also exists, consisting of a rubber [[balloon]] cut in half and tied to a tubular object such as the neck of a plastic bottle, or a small pipe. The projectile is inserted through the tube and into the cut balloon, and the user stretches the balloon to launch the projectile. These so-called "balloon guns" are sometimes made as a substitute to ordinary slingshot, and are often used to create the "shotgun" effect with several projectiles fired at once.

In modern times the slingshot has been used by civilians against governments. Examples of this are Hong Kong during the [[2019-2020 Hong Kong protests|2019-2020 protests]] where they were used against the [[Hong Kong Police Force]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Hong Kong protesters wielding bows and arrows hunker down at universities |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/hong-kong-protesters-wielding-bows-arrows-hunker-universities/story?id=66966924 |work=ABC |date=13 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kuo |first1=Lily |title=Hong Kong protesters use flashmob tactics to evade police |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/04/hong-kong-protesters-return-streets-day-after-violent-clashes |date=4 August 2019 |work = [[The Guardian]]}}</ref> by the Palestinians [[Palestinian stone-throwing|against Israeli forces]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Palestinian Music and Song Expression and Resistance Since 1900 |date=2013 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |page=133}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sirhan |first1=Nadia R. |title=Reporting Palestine-Israel in British Newspapers An Analysis of British Newspapers |date=2012 |publisher=[[Springer International Publishing]] |page=73}}</ref> and by the Ukrainians during the [[Maidan Revolution]] in 2014.<ref>{{cite news |title=Enraged protesters storm Ukraine government offices |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-protesters-storm-government-offices-as-protests-against-president-viktor-yanukovych-intensify/ |work=[[CBS News]] |date=23 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lawson |first1=George |title=Anatomies of Revolution |date=2019 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=182}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Arrow slingshot.jpg|A 1922 diagram showing the construction of an arrow-firing slingshot
File:Folding slingshot.jpg|A folding, steel framed wrist brace slingshot using tubular bands.
File:Praezisionssteinschleuder (cut-out).jpg|Modern slingshot with [[Human factors and ergonomics|ergonomic]] grip (center), arm support (left), stabiliser and sight (right)
File:Development of clashes in Kyiv, Ukraine. Events of February 18, 2014.jpg|Helmeted combatant fires a slingshot during [[Revolution of Dignity|clashes on February 18, 2014]], in Kyiv, Ukraine
</gallery>