Non-lethal force is force which is not inherently likely to kill or cause great bodily injury to a living target. In the past, police (or soldiers in Military Aid to the Civil Power) called to a riot were primarily limited to use of bayonet or sabre charges, or firing live ammunition into the mob. To control the violence with minimal risk to human life, non-lethal or less-than-lethal riot control technologies were developed in the 1960s.

Similarly, police officers on patrol were traditionally armed with a baton or a pistol, while in the 1980s and 1990s officers began deploying non-lethal personal sidearms, such as pepper sprays and stun guns, which were developed for use by police and also found a market in self-defense by private citizens.

As different parts of the body differ in vulnerability, and because people vary in weight and fitness, any weapon powerful enough to incapacitate is likely to be capable of killing under certain circumstances. Thus "non-lethal force" may have some risk of causing death: in this context "non-lethal" only means "not intended to kill". For this reason, two new terms, "less than lethal" and particularly "less-lethal", were coined and are now being used in place of "non-lethal" by many weapons manufacturers and law enforcement agencies (and even those who oppose their common use in riot control). This meaning emphasizes that they tend to kill or injure far fewer targets than traditional weapons, whose primary purpose is to kill and maim.

More on [ Non-lethal force ]

Non-Lethal - Twitter Search

@inthroughtheout Well, blunt is not necessarily non-lethal, of course; it just takes more work and makes less mess…
vemene (vemene) Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:23:16 -0000
@inthroughtheout Well, blunt is not necessarily non-lethal, of course; it just takes more work and makes less mess…
DIY non-lethal weapons? http://www.ladyada.net/make/bedazzler/index.html
akira_t (Akira I Thompson) Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:22:39 -0000
DIY non-lethal weapons? http://www.ladyada.net/make/bedazzler/index.html
Non-lethal weapon #titlesruined
superbuddha (Stephan Constantial) Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:28:09 -0000
Non-lethal weapon #titlesruined
NZers in non-lethal whale research: Scientists from New Zealand and Australia will next month head to Antarctica to... http://bit.ly/5zWdsA
Dompost (dompost) Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:00:56 -0000
NZers in non-lethal whale research: Scientists from New Zealand and Australia will next month head to Antarctica to... http://bit.ly/5zWdsA
Bc it's a yummy non-lethal analogy for nuclear fission. Or you're hungry. RT @kalenski: Why do I suddenly have a craving for split pea soup?
edwinalui (Edwina Lui) Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:30:45 -0000
Bc it's a yummy non-lethal analogy for nuclear fission. Or you're hungry. RT @kalenski: Why do I suddenly have a craving for split pea soup?
Your #Personal Safety is my Business..a variety of #Non-Lethal #Self Defense Products ♞ http://bit.ly/oaisecsd
oaisecurity (warren danner) Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:34:58 -0000
Your #Personal Safety is my Business..a variety of #Non-Lethal #Self Defense Products ♞ http://bit.ly/oaisecsd

Subscribe to Non-Lethal RSS feed