Non-Lethal Weapons

Public domain

by Grace Aaron
Los Angeles WILPF Branch Chair

December 2024

Why aren’t non-lethal weapons being used by the U.S. and its allies? Many would probably agree that lessening harm is a worthy objective. It is conjectured that the Pentagon has an entire arsenal of non-lethal weapons. Why aren’t they being used? And why aren’t more being developed?

First, let’s look at a few examples of non-lethal weapons.

• Advanced infrasound generators designed for crowd control have been tested by France and other nations. The devices emit very low-frequency sound waves that can be tuned to cause disorientation, nausea, and loss of bowel control. The effects have been found to be temporary, terminating when the generator is switched off. No permanent after effects are known. According to Janet Morris, who served as Research Director and Senior Fellow (1989–1994) at the U.S. Global Strategy Council, as well as Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (1993–1995), this type of weapon could allow a soldier to turn a field on, penetrate the field without harm, pull an incapacitated perpetrator or hostage out of a group of people and move out of harms way. [1] Although these devices called LRADs could be effective in controlling a mob or incoming military force, this type of sound weapon can cause permanent hearing damage if used indiscriminately. [2]
• Dogs can be used to disarm. They are unique in that they are the one weapon that can be controlled after being ‘fired’. Other animals might be utilized to reduce lethality in combat situations. [3]
• Laser rifles can damage enemy optical and infrared equipment. Used against people, they can flash-blind them temporarily. If not used properly they can also cause blindness, [4]
• Related to the laser rifle is the dazzler, a non-lethal weapon which uses intense directed radiation to temporarily disorient its target with flash blindness. Targets can include electronic sensors as well as human vision. Dazzlers emit infrared light against various electronic sensors and visible light against humans. They are intended not to cause long-term damage to the eyes. On 18 May 2006, the U.S. military announced it was using laser dazzlers mounted on M4 rifles in troops in Iraq as a non-lethal way to stop drivers who fail to stop at checkpoints manned by American soldiers. Other militaries have taken up use of them as well. [5]
• Sticky foam which can be shot from a hose and is designed to fix a person’s feet to the ground. [6]
• Vomit Guns have been tested. They project radio waves that can penetrate walls. These waves induce distress and cause vomiting. [7]
• Sleep-inducing agents can be used to incapacitate people. Sleep agents mixed with DMSO (which quickly delivers chemicals through the skin into the bloodstream) can curb violence and limit casualties. [8]
• Anti-traction substances make surfaces slippery. Using air-borne delivery systems or human agents, Teflon-type, environmentally neutral lubricants can be sprayed on railroad tracks, ramps, runways, and even stairs and equipment, making them unusable for a substantial period. Alternatively, it is also possible to paste things down so they can’t move. Polymer adhesives, delivered by air or selectively on the ground can ‘glue’ equipment in place and keep it from operating, [9]
• Special munitions can be used to temporarily contaminate fuel or change its viscosity to degrade engine function. Directed energy weapons could change the molecular structure of their targets, keeping planes on the ground. [10]
• A chemical fluid that causes metal embrittlement can be used to degrade key metal components of a military structure or facility. [11] [12]
•  PHASR - The Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response Rifle is another version of the ‘Dazzler’. It was developed by the Air Force to temporarily disorient and blind a target but is non-lethal. [13] [14]

Going beyond actual hardware, possibly the most potent non-lethal weapon is persuasion.

Non-violent resistance has meant persuading a quiescent majority to reject the unjust use of violence by an active minority.

Times have changed. Media manipulation and mass propaganda can now persuade large populations to accept violence, or at least to be inured to it. Couple that with the ability to weed out and punish or neutralize those who refuse to conform, and we see that greater and greater power can easily aggregate to the few. Of course, this is exacerbated by a slow and often corrupt justice system.

The evolution of violent methods of control has greatly outstripped non-violent methods of cooperation and progress.

We are faced with large numbers of people who consider wars (at least on a regional scale) to be acceptable, including the killing of civilians. On the other hand, those who reject the inevitability of armed conflict and population subjugation do not have adequate tools to counter this well-financed juggernaut.

It may be that a conversation about non-lethal weapons could elicit significant support and shift the focus away from lethality. According to Alvin and Heidi Toffler in the book on this subject published in 1993, ‘War and Anti-War: Survival in the 21st Century’, the Pentagon seriously considered this subject and developed quite a number of non- lethal weapons.

Perhaps it’s time for non-lethal weapons to be explored. 

Grace Aaron is both the Los Angeles WILPF Branch Chair and the Vice President of the Social Uplift Foundation

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[1] Toffler, Alvin and Heidi, War and Anti-War, Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Little, Brown and Company, 1993, page 129
[2] Lynn Peskoe-Yang, Popular Mechanics, https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/ weapons/a32892398/what-is-lrad-sonic-weapon-protests/ Published: June 17, 2020
[3]  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/06/02/non-lethal-force
[4] Toffler, Alvin and Heidi, War and Anti-War, Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Little, Brown and Company, 1993, page 130
[5] Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzler_(weapon)
[6]  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/06/02/non-lethal-force
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeC2szoahmc&t=22s
[8] Toffler, Alvin and Heidi, War and Anti-War, Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Little, Brown and Company, 1993, page 131
[9] Toffler, Alvin and Heidi, War and Anti-War, Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Little, Brown and Company, 1993, page 131
[10] Toffler, Alvin and Heidi, War and Anti-War, Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Little, Brown and Company, 1993, page 131
[11] Toffler, Alvin and Heidi, War and Anti-War, Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Little, Brown and Company, 1993, page 132
[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_metal_embrittlement
[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personnel_halting_and_stimulation_response...
[14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeC2szoahmc&t=22s