Flash-Ball is a registered trademark for a

less-lethal Non-lethal weapons, also called nonlethal weapons, less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-deadly weapons, compliance weapons, or pain-inducing weapons are weapons intended to be less likely to kill a living target than convention ...

hand-held projectile launcher developed by

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

hunting firearms manufacturer Verney-Carron. Flash-Ball is intended to be used by

riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police officers who act in the role of riot police in particular situations, or they may be separate unit ...

as an alternative to lethal

firearm A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

s, bean bag rounds and

plastic bullet Plastic bullet can refer to: * Plastic baton round: a large, blunt, low-velocity projectile fired from a specialized gun, intended as a less-lethal weapon for riot control and an alternative to rubber bullets. * Plastic bullet: a conventionall ...

Characteristics

The weapon exists in two versions of calibre 44/83. The super-pro version features vertically stacked barrels and is made from metal alloys, while the compact version is made from lighter

composite material A composite or composite material (also composition material) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a ...

s with the twin barrels side by side. Both versions of the weapon can be used to fire a variety of ammunition although a soft 44 mm rubber ball is the most common. According to the manufacturer's own publicity, the Flash-Ball's standard round has the

stopping power Stopping power is the supposed ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target (human or animal) to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a ...

of a 9 mm calibre

handgun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...

but considerably less kinetic energy per square centimetre, making it unlikely to penetrate the body of a normally clothed person even at ranges down to . Various

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

groups have expressed fears that the widespread deployment of such weapons could result in police being less likely to apply

de-escalation De-escalation refers to the methods and actions taken to decrease the severity of a conflict, whether of physical, verbal or another nature. It is the opposite of escalation. De-escalation may also refer to approaches in conflict resolution, b ...

tactics when dealing with potentially dangerous situations.

Safety concerns

Numerous eye losses, comas, and brain traumas as well as major bone breakages and two deaths due to cardiac arrest have been attributed to the use of Flash-Ball by police.

Users

* :

Law enforcement in France Law enforcement in France is centralized at the national level. Recently, legislation has allowed local governments to hire their own police officers which are called the ''Municipal Police (France), police municipale''. There are two nation ...

* : Grupo de Operações Especiais (Special Operations Group) of Macau Police * :

Public Security Police In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

References

External links

* Multiple-barrel firearms Riot guns Firearms of France {{firearm-stub

Characteristics

Safety concerns

Users

See also

References

External links