Rubber Bullets Kill and Disable People, Research Shows
Commonly used in crowd control, “kinetic impact projectiles” are far from harmless
Rubber bullets aren’t always rubber.
They are sometimes coated with plastic, they often have a metal core, or are made of a mix of metals and other materials. In fact, there’s very little information on what the various types are made of and how they perform when shot. But it is known that these kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs), as they’re called, are not as accurate as regular bullets. And they are not harmless.
“These projectiles have caused significant morbidity and mortality during the past 27 years, much of it from penetrative injuries and head, neck and torso trauma,” researchers concluded in a 2017 report in the British medical journal BMJ Open, based on a review of studies on the topic done between 1990 and mid-2017. “Given their inherent inaccuracy, potential for misuse and associated health consequences of severe injury, disability and death, KIPs do not appear to be appropriate weapons for use in crowd-control settings.”
“These projectiles have caused significant morbidity and mortality during the past 27 years, much of it from penetrative injuries and…
