1) I won't get into the moral and legal issues of using less lethal loadings in self defense type shootings except to say if you aren't justified in using deadly force but deploy less lethal then you become the aggressor and the other person, facing a firearm, would be justified in deploying deadly force against you.
2) "birdshot" in either 12 or 20 ga can be very fatal at typical home distances. At typical room distances the shot doesn't open that much and the impact is nearly 1 hole. The very first shooting I went to involved one subject shooting another across the room, about 15 ft, with a 20 ga single shot using low brass #6 shot. The load hit the guy right on the xyfoid (lowest part of the chest bone). He was wearing a t-shirt. The hole was about the size of a golf ball, ragged edges, and some pellets penetrated clear thru to the spine. Killed him right there.
3) There was some rubber bullet pistol rds made altho the effectiveness was pretty much nothing. I never saw any of them function an auto.
4) 12 ga less lethal loads like the bean bag is not 100% effective even when the subject is wearing light clothing. Wearing heavy clothing offers pretty much effective protection.
5) The most effective less lethal rds are launched from 37/40 mm type guns. The difference between the 37 or 40 mm type less lethal and the 12 ga less lethal is like night and day. Even so, the 37/40 mm loadings aren't 100% effective either. The following is an article from the April 1999 issue of Survive-L:
LESS THAN LETHAL?
When is it appropriate to use alternatives to deadly force?
by Deb Shinder with Andre Belotto, LAPD and Dennis Sloman, ISP
Many agencies, either worried about liability issues or out of genuine humanitarian concern, are exploring less-than-lethal weaponry that can be used to respond to situations where previously deadly force would have been considered the only appropriate option. Bean bag guns and rubber pellets are two increasingly popular options being used against armed suspects -- sometimes with gratifying success. Other times, they simply don't work and become just an extra step in the escalation continuum that finally ends in the use of deadly force after all.
Here is an account of one large agency's effective use of the bean bags recently, reprinted from a popular police forum and used with permission of the author, Andre' Belotto, a sergeant with LAPD:
"Boy, am I proud of the officers working LAPD's Rampart and Wilshire Division today. They used minimum force and took an armed suspect into custody without taking his life. Apparently there was a traffic collision and "road rage" took over one of the parties involved. [The suspect] had a pistol and started to threaten the others involved, and pedestrians, in a busy Koreatown neighborhood.
"The police arrived and told everyone on the street to get on the ground for their own safety, and using their vehicles and buildings as cover, police ordered the suspect to get on the ground and drop the weapon. The suspect got down on his knees, but held the pistol in his right hand, pointing it at the ground, while he talked to the officers. The Air Unit was overhead and helped coordinate the tactical deployment of the arriving officers, who were coming from everywhere.
"There were officers on the roof of a three story building directly above the suspect and they had a good sight picture on him. There were dozens of officers behind cover about 30-50 feet away from the suspect and they had a bead on him. This guy was surely going to be shot if he decided that he wanted to go out in a blaze of gunfire.
"A couple of officers were deployed using bean-bag shotguns, also behind cover.
"Well, here is where I salute the supervisors at scene and the officers' firing discipline. The suspect raised the weapon and fired two shots. The officers were behind good cover and were not in immediate danger. The two bean-bag officers each fired at the suspect and he collapsed to the ground. An arrest team moved in and took him into custody without incident. He's being charged with an assortment of criminal violations, including attempted murder of the police officers for firing at them.
"He's lucky to be alive. A few years ago, before bean-bag shotguns were issued to patrol officers, this guy would have been swiss cheese.
"The point here is that less-than-lethal options are indeed available nowadays, and can turn potential deadly force situations into arrests without incident and no injury. Then the question here is: can any agency today defend against NOT having less-than-lethal options in their trick bag, in civil court? It is definitely a good tool for us in law enforcement to show the public that we have a reverence for life and at least attempt to minimize the use of force. I am not saying these less-than-lethal tools are a panacea and should be first options against armed suspects. Officer and public safety comes first and maybe bullets will be the solution, but having such tools available in the field show that at least we are trying to be mindful of human life. We all know that generally the suspect will ultimately make the call."
Unfortunately, as Andre notes, the less-than-lethal alternatives cannot be expected to work everytime. Capt. Dennis Sloman, with the Illinois State Police, offers his views on the subject:
"Bean bags should just be another tool available to us, but they don't always work. Don't get complacent thinking that everyone hit with a bean bag will react as Andre's subject did. [That assumption] could get one of your officers killed.
"In the spring of 1997 we had just gotten 12 gauge bean bags in our inventory. We had a former deputy who had mental problems and attempted suicide by cop. He was waving a revolver around, not pointing it at anyone but making sure everyone knew he had it. We hit him twice with bean bags, once in the upper shoulder and once in the torso, at about 15 feet. He dropped like he'd been hit with 12 gauge slugs. He was bruised but said he didn't remember getting hit.
"On Sept 26, 1997, during our 39 day standoff [with a barricaded older lady with apparent mental problems] at Roby, IL, we hit the woman 3 to 4 times in the torso from no farther than 20 feet. She was unaffected and returned fire with a 12 gauge slug nearly hitting one of the officers before retreating back into her house. On Oct 30, 1997 we hit her 3 times in the torso with 37 mm rubber bullets from less than 20 feet and she still didn't immediately drop. When she went down it was not from the impact of the 37 mm. If you haven't seen the difference, the 12 gauge bean bag is not even in the same league as the 37 mm rubber bullet. The 12 gauge bean bag is a pop gun compared to the 37 mm.
"About 2 weeks later our team made entry on a armed hostage taker. From less than 10 feet the subject was hit in the chest with a 12 gauge bean bag. He was not affected and immediately returned fire with a .25 auto, striking the body bunker our guy was behind. He then killed himself.
"The mental attitude of the subject will determine whether [and how] they react to being hit. With the deputy, and from the way Andre's subject sounds, they wanted to be killed. The old "suicide by cop" routine. When hit with the bean bag, their mental conditioning told them they had been shot, therefore they fell down. They didn't know it was bean bags they'd been hit with; they thought it was real ammo. With our 2 other subjects, they were fighters. They had no intentions of being killed. Therefore, when hit with the bean bag they just got mad and fought back.
"Bean bags have their place but don't expect them to always perform as hoped. One last point, while normally bean bags and similar [weapons] are not lethal, they CAN be lethal. They can kill, depending on where the round strikes and the physical condition of the subject. They are not "less than lethal" but more accurately "less lethal". If hit and killed by a less lethal [weapon], liability-wise for the department, was the force used necessary? While the intent was not to kill, death still occurred."
The viewpoints of these two officers aren't really in opposition. Both make the same points, though perhaps with a different emphasis: 1) less-than-lethal (or "less likely to be lethal") weaponry is a useful development and belongs in the officer's list of options when confronted with a violent suspect. 2) These alternative weapons are not "The Answer" to every situation, any more than the baton, pepper spray, or other "new toys" that were acclaimed by some proponents to be the definitive solution that would make the use of duty firearms unnecessary under most circumstances.
Just as we should never put all our eggs in one basket, we should never place all our faith in one force option. But we must always remember that the more options officers have available in a given situation, the more likely they are to resolve that situation with the minimum amount of force necessary.
