US military prepares machine guns for "crowd control" - Tree of Souls - An Avatar Community Forum
Tree of Souls - An Avatar Community Forum
Tree of Souls has now been upgraded to an all-new forum platform and will be temporarily located at tree-of-souls.net. This version of the forum will remain for archival reasons, but is locked for further posting. All existing accounts and posts have been moved over to the new site, so please go to tree-of-souls.net and log in with your regular credentials!
Go Back   Tree of Souls - An Avatar Community Forum » General Forums » General Discussion
FAQ Community Calendar

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 03-03-2011, 08:15 PM
auroraglacialis's Avatar
auroraglacialis auroraglacialis is offline
Tsulfätu
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Central Europe
Posts: 1,610
Default US military prepares machine guns for "crowd control"

Some people here insisted that the US is so great that people do not protest like in Europe because they are all so content.

My argument against that was, that the US is just better in inciting fear in the citizens, meaning that if protesting means you will get beaten up and put into prison or worse - you will think twice. The documentary I saw lately about the difference in treating activists in the US versus Europe was eye opening in that respect already.

This now supports this:
Probably the US does not want to risk that the citizens eventually pull an Egypt on them, so they prepare by producing rubber bullets for machine guns. For crowd control. With machine guns. Vehicle mounted machine guns! WTF!

Army wants rapid-fire rubber bullets for crowd control - tech - 17 February 2011 - New Scientist

Quote:
THE US army is planning to field "rubber bullets" for machine guns. Military officials claim the ammunition will allow them to more effectively quell violent protests without loss of life, but human rights campaigners are alarmed by the new weapon......"Such a weapon system would allow for a burst of non-accurate fire at a crowd, with high risk of hitting bystanders, ricochets and of hitting vulnerable areas of the body," she says.

Despite being hollow and plastic, if a round were to strike someone in the head, it could severely injure or kill them, she adds.
__________________
Know your idols: Who said "Hitler killed five million Jews. It is the greatest crime of our time. But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher's knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.". (Solution: "Mahatma" Ghandi)

Stop terraforming Earth (wordpress)

"Humans are storytellers. These stories then can become our reality. Only when we loose ourselves in the stories they have the power to control us. Our culture got lost in the wrong story, a story of death and defeat, of opression and control, of separation and competition. We need a new story!"
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-03-2011, 09:13 PM
X.,.Pandora.,.X's Avatar
X.,.Pandora.,.X X.,.Pandora.,.X is offline
Tsulfätu
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 1,577
Default

Fist off this isn't a new weapon, rubber bullets have been around for a good decade. And no, rubber bullets do not kill you, there have been no reports of even a serious accident. I'll contradict myself here, they can kill if they strike you in the eye, but hey, so can a paintball.... But, standard protocol along with strict discipline insure that no head shots are taken. Only body shots are allowed. Also hollow things only ricochet off of extremely hard objects, not humans...
__________________

Last edited by X.,.Pandora.,.X; 03-03-2011 at 09:18 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-03-2011, 09:17 PM
Isard's Avatar
Isard Isard is offline
Old Guard
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 3,396
Send a message via Skype™ to Isard
Default

Where have you been for the last two decades?


Rubber bullets have been used for years. And the US will not suffer them, because, we don't break things when we're angry.
__________________
:psyduck:
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 03-03-2011, 09:19 PM
txen's Avatar
txen txen is offline
Pa'li Makto
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Santa Clarita, CA
Posts: 344
Default

We do have this minor issue with the US military firing on US citizens. It's called the Posse Comitatus Act and was enacted after the 19th century civil war. Sure if things go real bad it will be swept aside, but for now I imaging that the military wants it for places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'd call what goes on here apathy, not "content." The vast majority over here just don't care or don't think thay can make a difference.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 03-03-2011, 09:33 PM
Devourment's Avatar
Devourment Devourment is offline
Tsamsiyu
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: West MA
Posts: 516
Default

Although riot police have been using rubber bullets for years, the idea of mounted machineguns is more than a little unnerving to me. Getting hit in the chest with a rubber bullet from a rifle is one thing, but being struck possibly multiple times from a .50 caliber military grade machine gun is quite another.

Also, rubber bullets can easily cause death when misused, and misuse is not uncommon. It is impossible to be accurate when you are firing into a churning crowd, and deaths happen. Also, there are plenty of reported cases, I found this after a fifteen second google search, from a government website no less.

Death following rubber bullet wounds to the chest:... [East Afr Med J. 2005] - PubMed result
__________________

"You know what, World? You got me cornered again,
I'm gonna role another joint."
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 03-03-2011, 10:00 PM
Tsyal Makto's Avatar
Tsyal Makto Tsyal Makto is offline
Tsulfätu
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Body - Chicago, Spirit - Pandora
Posts: 1,868
Default

^This.
__________________


The Dreamer's Manifesto

Mike Malloy, a voice of reason in a world gone mad.

"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling." - Inception

"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy **** we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off." - Tyler Durden
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 03-03-2011, 10:22 PM
Human No More's Avatar
Human No More Human No More is offline
Toruk Makto, Admin
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: In a datacentre
Posts: 11,726
Default

They have already been used for decades, and have been killing or seriously injuring people for just as long. Definitely still an abuse though.
__________________
...
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 03-03-2011, 10:31 PM
Aquaplant Aquaplant is offline
Tsamsiyu
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 690
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by txen View Post
I'd call what goes on here apathy, not "content." The vast majority over here just don't care or don't think thay can make a difference.
That's because they can't make a difference, peacefully anyways.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 03-03-2011, 10:47 PM
X.,.Pandora.,.X's Avatar
X.,.Pandora.,.X X.,.Pandora.,.X is offline
Tsulfätu
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 1,577
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Devourment;131910[url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16167715
Death following rubber bullet wounds to the chest:... [East Afr Med J. 2005] - PubMed result[/url]
"...including the circumstance surrounding this unusual occurrence"
its no impossible, just rare
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 03-03-2011, 11:21 PM
Isard's Avatar
Isard Isard is offline
Old Guard
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 3,396
Send a message via Skype™ to Isard
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquaplant View Post
That's because they can't make a difference, peacefully anyways.
Wisconsins going to recall more than half our state senate within a few months, and our Governor as soon as his first year is up.
__________________
:psyduck:
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 03-03-2011, 11:26 PM
Grif Grif is offline
Lord Duke the Baron
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 982
Default

I'm going to stay out of this one...
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 03-04-2011, 01:43 AM
Советский меч's Avatar
Советский меч Советский меч is offline
Tsamsiyu
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Moscow
Posts: 669
Default

Where a bread helmet. This oh so simple solution seems to evade us.

__________________
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 03-04-2011, 02:13 AM
X.,.Pandora.,.X's Avatar
X.,.Pandora.,.X X.,.Pandora.,.X is offline
Tsulfätu
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 1,577
Default

that is win xD
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 03-04-2011, 04:22 AM
Unilyu's Avatar
Unilyu Unilyu is offline
Dreamwalker
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Aus-tray-lee-a
Posts: 45
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Devourment View Post
Although riot police have been using rubber bullets for years, the idea of mounted machineguns is more than a little unnerving to me. Getting hit in the chest with a rubber bullet from a rifle is one thing, but being struck possibly multiple times from a .50 caliber military grade machine gun is quite another.

Also, rubber bullets can easily cause death when misused, and misuse is not uncommon. It is impossible to be accurate when you are firing into a churning crowd, and deaths happen. Also, there are plenty of reported cases, I found this after a fifteen second google search, from a government website no less.

Death following rubber bullet wounds to the chest:... [East Afr Med J. 2005] - PubMed result
According to the article these hollow rubber bullets will primarily be fired from Mk19 fully-automatic 40mm grenade launchers (as well as some handheld 40mms).
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 03-04-2011, 04:36 AM
Banefull's Avatar
Banefull Banefull is offline
Ikran Makto
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ohio
Posts: 814
Send a message via Skype™ to Banefull
Default

Maybe it has the potential to cause serious injury but do you really think riot police are going to fire it full automatic into a crowd? They are better trained than that.

The capability to deliver large amounts of rounds may be necessary at times. Riot police only intervene when protests get violent. Mob behavior can get very nasty at times. If people are being beaten or injured (think about a lot of post-football game riots), then they have to disperse the crowd fast. The alternative to rubber bullets would be to use deadly force to try and protect people.

I also generally frown upon painting riot police as people who are there to oppress. The news media may give them a bad rap based upon what happens overseas but policing is a dangerous job. Many get killed or seriously injured each year. As with any law enforcement branch, they do an honest and respectful duty keeping everyone safe.

Last edited by Banefull; 03-04-2011 at 04:42 AM.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


Visit our partner sites:

   



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:10 PM.

Based on the Planet Earth theme by Themes by Design


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
All images and clips of Avatar are the exclusive property of 20th Century Fox.