Protest threats, detection, protection and (counter) moves
From Gender and Tech Resources
This page lists theoretical defenses for selected groups of weapons used by police or military on civilians. This is just a thought experiment covering (theoretical) defenses against these attacks and not intended to spread fear, uncertainty or doubt about dictator and police states. The tables were initially filled with items from excited delirium (a protestor’s guide to “less-lethal” police weaponry) of 2008, then further investigated and added to.
The government just loves technology. They always assume that every problem —whether social, martial, economic, or ecological— is just waiting for some magic device to solve it. This is a another weakness of theirs. The defenses mentioned in these tables should not be relied upon for protection and I make no guarantees to their accuracy. You need to do research in your own environment as to what new developments are and make informed decisions knowing it is impossible to be completely safe. Things move incredibly fast in this arena and I will update these tables when more is found and/or theorised.
Ideally we discuss these exploits and counter moves without the police being privy to those discussion, but that would make spreading possible counter moves too slow for the less-than-lethal development cycle (arms race) and effectively exclude non-techie activists from being able to defend themselves to some extent, so the next best solution is to discuss everything in the open, so everyone knows how they work and how to defend from them, maybe making us all a little safer by using such grounding for reducing our fears, than not discussing them at all.
Electrical
| Weapon | More information | Attacks/Impact | Protection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stun guns (tasers) | Stun guns are less-lethal weapons that use electricity to hurt or incapacitate their victims. Both stinger and taser have two modes: 'projectile' and 'drive stun'. | In projectile mode, both use Electro-Muscular Disruption (EMD) technology to cause Neuromuscular Incapacitation (NMI) in their targets. After a half-second, the pain is nearly unbearable and causes muscle contractions. After 2-3 seconds, the subject is dazed and dropped to the ground. More than 3 seconds completely disorients a person and causes them to stay on the ground, risking breathing impairment and heart damage.
In drive stun mode, the stun gun runs electricity between two points in the gun itself and becomes, essentially, a cattle prod. This can cause burning, intense pain, and scarring, but is a pain-compliance weapon (as compared to the projectile mode, which will take anyone down, regardless of their pain tolerance). |
With the newer tasers, you can’t just allow the prongs to not penetrate into your skin because of their “shaped pulses” that somehow shock you through clothing. It’s
been suggested that you can’t just complete the prongs circuit, because if the prongs are in you, you’ll get shocked and/or burned. While we’ve found no information on DIY methods being tested, we did run across the commercial product announced early in 2008, only available to law enforcement, military, and manufacturers of products for those two categories. But their patent #7284280 (http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/7284280.html) is online and we can learn from that. |
| Stun shield | Stinger Systems makes a device called "The Ice Shield", an electrically charged riot shield. They come both concave and convex, angled towards or away from the bearer.
They may have become less common since a malfunctioning one allegedly killed a prison guard. |
It is unclear if they operate on a purely pain-compliance principle or if they will actually lock up the victims muscular system. | Short contacts on shield. |
| Taser XRep | These are basically wireless TASER darts that are fired out of a 12ga shotgun. It has the same NMI as a handheld taser. As soon as the shot leaves the shell, a ripcord activates it and it has 20 seconds of life. Its velocity is 260’ per second and it is intended to be used at ranges of up to 65’. It has 3 fins that deploy as fletching after firing and 4 prongs that stick into you on impact. | After impact, part of the body of the thing falls away, still attached by a cord, and 6 more electric barbs spread the shock out further on your body. If you grab at the projectile while it’s in you, the "reflex engagement electrodes" will send the electricity through your hand and arm as well, making it all that much the worse for you. It even has a damn computer in it to make decisions about how to spread out the shock between all of its nasty points to make your life as crappy as possible. | Same as for stun guns. |
Chemical
| Weapon | More information | Header text | Protection |
|---|---|---|---|
| CS | Example | Example | Example |
| CN | Example | Example | Example |
| CR | Example | Example | Example |
| OC (Pepper spray) | Example | Example | Example |
| PAVA | Example | Example | Example |
Impact weapons
Build armour protecting your head, collar and shoulder, and kidneys and knees. Motocross armor is pretty amazing stuff, light and fairly low-profile under other clothing. Reinforce a banner to double as lightweight shield.
Launchers
| Weapon | More information | Header text | Protection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riot guns | Example | Example | Example |
| Sprays | Example | Example | Example |
Projectiles
| Weapon | More information | Header text | Protection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical weapon canisters | Example | Example | Example |
| Muzzle blasts | Example | Example | Example |
| Rubber balls | Example | Example | Example |
| Baton rounds | Example | Example | Protect your knees |
| Bean bags | Example | Example | Example |
| Pepperballs | Example | Example | Example |
| Bolo | Example | Example | Example |
| Flash-bang | Example | Example | Example |
Melee
| Weapon | More information | Header text | Protection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batons | Example | Example | Example |
| Close quarter weapons | Example | Example | Example |
| Orcutt police nunchaku | Example | Example | Example |
Other
| Weapon | More information | Header text | Protection |
|---|---|---|---|
| ADS (Pain ray) | Example | Example | Example |
| Water cannon | Example | Example | Example |
| Electrified water cannon | Example | Example | Example |
| Sticky foam | Example | Example | Example |
| LRAD | Example | Example | Example |
| MEDUSA | Example | Example | Example |
| Dazzler | Example | Example | Example |
| Pulsed energy projectile | Example | Example | Example |
| Vortex ring gun | Example | Example | Example |
| Malodorant | Example | Example | Example |
| Netgun | Example | Example | Example |
| Modular crowd control munition | Example | Example | Example |
| LED incapacitator | Example | Example | Example |