tranquiliser guns

Article

4 Nov

Tranquiliser guns (also called dart guns, projectors or “remote” drug delivery devices) are specialised firearms that shoot darts tipped with hypodermic needles containing a sedative. Tranquiliser guns are used to sedate and capture animals, and are sometimes included in police arsenals for this purpose. Despite occasional suggestions that these be used as “less lethal” weapons for arresting humans, they are not suitable for this purpose.

While police have not adopted tranquiliser guns for use on humans, forced sedation with traditional needles is more common, often leading to death (1).

Tranquiliser darts are propelled with an explosive charge or pressurised gas, and contain drugs such as opioids or ketamine. Darts may be barbed so they don’t dislodge from the victim, and may contain a transmitter for tracking (2).

The weapons are typically rifles, but pistol versions are also available (3).

Tranquiliser guns can usually be fired once before reloading, but some double-barrelled variants exist. Depending on the propulsion method, the guns can have an effective range of up to 60 metres (4).

history

Blowguns loaded with poisoned darts have been traditionally used for hunting and occasional warfare, particularly in South America and Southeast Asia (5).

Inventors experimented with “narcotic bullets” in the early 20th century, culminating in the patenting of the tranquiliser gun in 1959 (6).

Tranquiliser guns have since become widespread in zoos, farms, wildlife protection and animal control. Darts have also been filled with vaccines and other medicines.

In 1961 a tranquiliser gun was reportedly used to sedate a prisoner in Athens, Georgia. It took six minutes for the victim to pass out (7).

In 1963 the New York Police Department were reported to be considering the use of tranquiliser guns, but this did not eventuate (8).

In 2012, Chinese police allegedly fired tranquiliser darts during a forced mass eviction. Residents of Xiangdong village claimed that the police injured nine Hui people including children with the darts, but the local Communist Party secretary and the police denied that tranquiliser guns were used (9).

dangers and drawbacks

Tranquiliser guns are a dangerous and ineffective weapon for several reasons:

Although tranquiliser darts often appear fast-acting in the media, they can take 5-10 minutes to fully sedate an animal. Shooting a human would not initially demobilise them, but may antagonise them.
There is a high chance of overdose due to not knowing the victim’s weight, other drug interactions, allergic reactions and other medical conditions. Animals shot with tranquiliser guns sometimes die from overdoses, but their lives are not valued as highly as humans. The safe sedation of humans requires medical expertise and equipment that cannot be replicated in the field.
Dosage needs to be adjusted in the field, and the darts are slow to load and fire. In comparison, a Taser can be fired quickly at any victim without adjusting the voltage (but is still often lethal).
Handling darts can be risky for the police themselves, with accidental poisoning occurring during loading, cleaning, retrieval and disposal of the darts in an unpredictable environment.
Members of the public can be poisoned by handling darts that are not retrieved by the police.
Darts can cause bruising and broken bones (10).

countermeasures

There is a lack of literature regarding countermeasures for tranquiliser guns. Countermeasures employed for baton rounds could be effective i.e. fleeing the area, using shields and barricades to block the darts.
The drug naloxone (sometimes referred to by the brand name Narcan) can reverse the effects of opioid poisoning, which may be effective against tranquiliser darts. In some areas, naloxone is freely distributed by governments and should be included in street medic kits (11).