Editing Plastic bullet (section)

=== Use in Northern Ireland ===
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="text-align:right;"
|+ Numbers of rubber and plastic bullets fired in Northern Ireland 1970–1981<ref>The [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] acquired plastic bullets in 1978, but the figures for 1978, 1979 and 1980 refer only to the number of plastic bullets fired by the British Army. The 1981 figures include plastic bullets fired by the RUC</ref><ref name="They Shoot Children" >{{Cite book  |title=They Shoot Children: The use of rubber and plastic bullets in the north of Ireland  |publisher=Information on Ireland  |location=Ivor Place, London  |year=1982  |isbn=0-9507381-2-3  |ref=They Shoot Children }}</ref>
|-
! Year
! Rubber bullets
! Plastic bullets
|-
| 1970 ||    238 ||
|-
| 1971 || 16,752 ||
|-
| 1972 || 23,363 ||
|-
| 1973 || 12,724 ||     42
|-
| 1974 ||  2,612 ||    216
|-
| 1975 ||    145 ||  3,556
|-
| 1976 ||        ||  3,464
|-
| 1977 ||        ||  1,490
|-
| 1978 ||        ||  1,734
|-
| 1979 ||        ||  1,271
|-
| 1980 ||        ||  1,231
|-
| 1981 ||        || 29,665
|-
! Sub-total
!         55,834 !! 42,669
|- style="font-size: normal;"
! Total
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" | 98,503
|}

The British Army in Northern Ireland was issued with plastic bullets in August 1972, the intention being to replace the use of rubber bullets, and first used by them in February 1973;<ref name=ns-rosenhead /> while the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC) first 'tried out' the new round during a riot on 12 August 1973.<ref name=cain-aug1973>{{cite web
| url          = http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch73.htm#Aug
| title        = A Chronology of the Conflict - August 1973
| last         = Melaugh
| first        = Martin
| date         = 
| website      = CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet)
| publisher    = Ulster University
| access-date  = 2023-03-14
| quote        = Sunday 12 August 1973 The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) tried out a new plastic baton round during a riot. 
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20230314165253/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch73.htm#Aug
| archive-date = 2023-03-14}}</ref> Shortly after their introduction it was discovered plastic bullets were lethal at certain ranges.<ref name="h118" >{{cite book | last = Coker | first = Christopher | title = Ethics and war in the 21st century| publisher = [[Routledge]] | year = 2008 | pages = 129 | isbn = 978-0-415-45282-3}}</ref>  Rubber bullets had been withdrawn from Northern Ireland by the end of 1975.<ref name=ns-rosenhead />

Fourteen people were killed by plastic bullet impacts; half of them were children and all but one were from the Catholic community. The deaths occurred over 14 years, from 1975 to 1989.<ref name=cainbullets>{{cite web
| url          = https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/violence/rubberplasticbullet.htm
| title        = List of People Killed by 'Rubber' and 'Plastic' Bullets
| last         = Melaugh
| first        = Martin
| date         = 
| website      = CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet)
| publisher    = Ulster University
| access-date  = 2023-03-15
| quote        = 
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20220808103016/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/violence/rubberplasticbullet.htm
| archive-date = 2022-08-08
| url-status = live}}</ref>
Most of the deaths were allegedly caused by the British security forces misusing the weapon, firing at close range and at chest or head level rather than targeting below the waist.<ref name="PRB0" >{{cite web |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/1444524.stm|title= Dispute over plastic bullets use | work=BBC News | date=2001-07-18 | access-date=2010-01-06
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021015174822/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1444524.stm
 |archive-date=2002-10-15
 |url-status=live
 |quote=Seventeen people have been killed by plastic bullets in Northern Ireland. Nine of those who died were children under the age of 18 - the youngest aged 10.}}</ref><ref name="PRB1">{{cite web
 |url=http://www.iol.ie/~pfc/policing/plastic/plastic23072001b.html
 |title= Victims of Plastic and Rubber Bullets, Lost Lives (1999)
 | date=1999
 |author=McKittrick
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030516123935/http://www.iol.ie/~pfc/policing/plastic/plastic23072001b.html
 |archive-date=2003-05-16
 |url-status=dead
 |quote=Brian Stewart. Age 13. Shot October 10, 1976. Shot in the head by British Army from a distance of 10 yards. Non-riot situation}}</ref><ref name="PRB2">{{cite web
 |url=http://www.resonant.org/news/2003/2003.04.10-plastic_and_rubber_bullet_fatalities_in_northern_ireland-relativesforjustice.com.html
| title=Plastic and Rubber Bullet Victims
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724191753/http://www.resonant.org/news/2003/2003.04.10-plastic_and_rubber_bullet_fatalities_in_northern_ireland-relativesforjustice.com.html
 |archive-date=2011-07-24
 |url-status=dead
|quote=John Downes, 23, from Andersonstown, west Belfast, killed in the most public fashion when he was struck on the chest at point blank range by an RUC plastic bullet in front of television cameras at a Republican rally}}</ref>

The first person to be killed by a plastic bullet was 10 year old Stephen Geddis, who died on 30 August 1975 in hospital, two days after being shot by the British Army in west Belfast.<ref name=cainbullets/> One of the most high-profile plastic bullet victims was 12 year old Carol Ann Kelly from west Belfast, who died in hospital on 22 May 1981 after being shot in the head by a member of the [[Royal Regiment of Fusiliers]] on 19 May 1981.<ref>{{cite web
| url          = https://www.relativesforjustice.com/carol-ann-kelly.htm
| title        = The Victims
| date         = 2009
| website      = Relatives for Justice
| access-date  = 2023-03-25
| quote        = The coroner in his ‘findings’ said that Carol Ann Kelly was an innocent bystander when she was ‘struck on the head by the second of two plastic bullets fired as she passed Aspen Park.’
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090329114621/https://www.relativesforjustice.com/carol-ann-kelly.htm
| archive-date = 2009-03-29
| url-status = dead}}
</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Human Rights in Northern Ireland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTooVE-mv-EC&pg=PA159|year=1991|publisher=Human Rights Watch|isbn=978-0-300-05623-5|page=159}}</ref>

In 1982, the [[European Parliament]] called on member states to ban the use of plastic bullets.<ref>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch82.htm A Chronology of the Conflict - 1982]. [[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] (CAIN).</ref> However, they continued to be used by the British security forces in Northern Ireland. In 1984 the [[United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets]] was founded, calling for plastic bullets to be banned in Northern Ireland. One of its founders, [[Emma Groves]], had been permanently blinded in 1971 when a British soldier shot her in the face with a rubber bullet. During [[1997 nationalist riots in Northern Ireland|rioting in July 1997]], a 14 year old boy was struck in the head by a plastic bullet and spent three days in a [[coma]].<ref>{{cite web
| url          = https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch97.htm#Jul
| title        = A Chronology of the Conflict - 1997
| last         = Melaugh
| first        = Martin
| date         = 2024-11-20
| website      = CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet)
| publisher    = Ulster University
| access-date  = 2025-04-12
| quote        =  In Lurgan a train was stopped and two coaches were destroyed when it was set on fire. Republican paramilitaries fired shots in north Belfast and injured a Protestant teenager. A Catholic boy aged 14 was critically injured when shot in the head by a plastic bullet. [He spent three days in a coma and was released from hospital on 22 July 1997.]
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20241204021022/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch97.htm#Jul
| archive-date = 2024-12-04
| url-status = live}}</ref>

From 1973 to 1981, just over 42,600 plastic bullets were fired in Northern Ireland. By 2005, 125,000 baton rounds had been fired, most of them plastic bullets.<ref name="Williams"/>