Oh, honey, it’s not about protecting people…
When you don’t intend to kill rubber bullets are still very dangerous.
If you have to kill (armed and attacking) they are not dangerous enough.
Then you have the issue of less than lethal weapons having a much lower threshold for when they are used and then accidentally killing or maiming someone.
Many in Northern Ireland were killed or blinded by rubber bullets used by British military.
Pretty sure they were invented here
As an American kid, The Troubles was where I first heard the term “rubber bullet”.
They’re rubber -coated and can and do maim and kill.
So called “less than lethal” weapons can and do still kill people:
Putting holes in people is what guns are for. If you don’t intend to do that, don’t use a gun - that’s what hand-to-hand combat training, batons, tasers and pepper spray are for.
There’s also a moral-hazard problem: rubber bullets can still be lethal, but the threshold for using them is lower, which could actually lead to more deaths, not fewer.
And they do also use bean bag guns sometimes in non-crowd situations, but typically when they’re using the taser or bean bags they’ll still have lethal cover.
Non lethal munitions/weapons are not so non lethal as people think.
Crowd control or demonstration control is another complex problem that can’t be solved by some magic bullet. It is more psychology game when the police tries to look threatening in place where people can easily overpower them.
They’d probably be even less hesitant to use their firearm than they already are, resulting in more deaths. We’ve seen plenty of TASER Deaths™ when those became a big thing
Aside from the “cops aren’t out there to save lives” points that others have mentioned… In case you were not aware:
“Rubber bullets” are lead slugs covered in semi-malleable resin/plastic/rubber. They can - and do - kill people when used improperly/carelessly. For instance, a headshot with one of those can kill, or leave the victim with a permanent severe TBI.
Also, they’re WAY bigger than 9mm pistol bullets, meaning they can’t be used in a pistol (generally you need a special weapon to fire them), and clip size is severely limited, and semi-auto action is (afaik) basically a non-starter.
So much is explained about policing in the USA with a simple one liner an older friend once told me: cops are just guys who want to drive fast and shoot guns.
And aim for the bushes?
You’re approaching this like cops aren’t allowed to be the Judge, Jury, and Executioner
Civilized countries hold cops accountable when they kill people.
Cops in the US can kill whoever they want for whatever reason and they probably won’t even be fired.
The answer is no.
Some US police use bean bag guns. However, at <10ft, they hit the victim with more energy than a shogun blast. Lethal at head or chest.
Welcome to the Forum “Many things that Europeans keep wondering about Americans”
But putting the holes into people is the effect …
The typical cop will never use his gun except during the mandatory training exercises. When they don’t need lethal force there are better tools for the job. Their uniform alone is often enough, in more difficult cases their baton is used regularly - while it could be lethal it is a lot easier to control the force to ensure it isn’t, once in a while a Taser, though the cops I’ve known never needed their taser outside of exercises.
We need cops to have all the tools they need on hand for their job, but each one adds weight and so limits their ability to the the job. Since there are already several good non-lethal tools they use, adding one that isn’t going to be used often isn’t worth it. They still should have the last resort lethal force tool - but typically it is a backup they never need. (TV shows do not show the reality of being a cop)
ACAB and all that, but you are right on the money. Most cops will never draw their service weapon. Of millions and millions of daily police/civilian interactions, no problem.
They get up to some serious bullshit, been on the wrong end many times, and I’m a white guy, but shootings are rare given 340,000,000 Americans, many of whom are fucking nuts.
As with any shocking news, and I can’t stress this enough, you only see it because it shocking. An entire family can get smeared off the interstate, hardly worth mentioning.
tl;dr: Humans are shit are evaluating risk, didn’t evolve to navigate this huge and complex world.
