A plastic bullet or plastic baton round (PBR) is a non-lethal projectile fired from a specialised gun. Although designed as a non-lethal weapon they have still caused several deaths. They are generally used for riot control (notably in Northern Ireland). Plastic bullets were developed by the British security forces to replace their rubber bullets in an attempt to reduce fatalities. If misused they can still cause fatal injury.
An unrelated small-calibre handgun bullet made of plastic is sometimes used for short range target practice (see recreational use).
Read more about Plastic Bullet: Design, Recreational Use
Famous quotes containing the words plastic and/or bullet:
“What a wonderful faculty is memory!—the most mysterious and inexplicable in the great riddle of life; that plastic tablet on which the Almighty registers with unerring fidelity the records of being, making it the depository of all our words, thoughts and deeds—this faithful witness against us for good or evil.”
—Susanna Moodie (1803–1885)
“Consider his life which was valueless
In terms of employment, hotel ledgers, news files.
Consider. One bullet in ten thousand kills a man.
Ask. Was so much expenditure justified
On the death of one so young and so silly
Lying under the olive tree, O world, O death?”
—Stephen Spender (1909–1995)