Wooden bullets are wooden projectiles designed to be fired from a gun. They are intended to be used as less lethal weapons for crowd control by enforcing pain compliance at a distance.[1] They have been known to raise large welts or bruises on their targets.[1][2]

Wooden bullet
A wooden bullet shaped object. It is smooth all over and brown in colour. probably used for practice firing. Rather than simply firing blank cartridges, some automatic weapons, particularly machine guns required a projectile in order to produce the n
A wooden bullet shaped object. It is smooth all over and brown in colour.
TypeNon-lethal weapon

History of use

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During the Second World War, some German troops were equipped with wooden bullets,[3] while British troops were trained with wooden bullets to avoid the cost of metal bullets.

Wooden bullets were also used by British troops in Hong Kong.[2] During a 2014 protest in Missouri following the shooting of Michael Brown, the police fired wooden bullets at protesters.[1] During the 1999 WTO anti-globalization movement in Seattle, the police shot wooden bullets at protesters.[4]

A team of research engineers in Wisconsin used 12-foot-long (3.7 m), 15-pound (6.8 kg), 2-by-4 pine bullets propelled at 100 miles per hour (45 m/s) by an air cannon to test the resistance of tornado shelters made of wood.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Jon Swaine (12 August 2014). "Missouri police fired wooden bullets at crowd during protest over teen's death". The Guardian.
  2. ^ a b "LESS LETHAL FORCE: Proposed Standards for Massachusetts Law Enforcement Agencies" (PDF). American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  3. ^ History: Wooden Bullets, Trailblazersww2.org
  4. ^ McNichols, Joshua (19 November 2019). "A cop shot this wooden bullet at me at the WTO protests in Seattle. Here's the story it tells". Kuow.org. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  5. ^ Barry Adams, On Wisconsin: Wooden bullet helps researchers make affordable shelters, Madison.com, 11 May 2014