What shotgun Do police use?
The U.S. Army specifications for shotguns require a metal trigger guard for durability, which reduces the number of “special purpose” models used by police that would also be suitable for the military (the Mossberg 590A1 and Benelli M1014 are the standard-issue pump and semi-auto shotguns currently in service; the …
Is using a flamethrower a war crime?
They have been deemed of questionable effectiveness in modern combat. Despite some assertions, they are not generally banned, but as incendiary weapons they are subject to the usage prohibitions described under Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
Is germ warfare illegal?
The international community banned the use of chemical and biological weapons after World War 1 and reinforced the ban in 1972 and 1993 by prohibiting their development, stockpiling and transfer. Advances in science and technology raise concerns that restraints on their use may be ignored or eroded.
Could influenza virus be used a biological weapon?
As a potential biological weapon, influenza has several advantages over smallpox, including ready accessibility, write Mohammad Madjid, MD, and three colleagues. The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 killed between 20 million and 40 million people.
Does the US have biological weapons?
The United States had an offensive biological weapons program from 1943 until 1969. Today, the nation is a member of the Biological Weapons Convention and has renounced biological warfare.
Why are bioweapons illegal?
Entomological (insect) warfare is a subtype of biological warfare. In particular, the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) bans the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological weapons. Therefore, the use of biological agents in armed conflict is a war crime.
Which country has biological weapons?
What Countries Have Them? Only 16 countries plus Taiwan have had or are currently suspected of having biological weapons programs: Canada, China, Cuba, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Libya, North Korea, Russia, South Africa, Syria, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Are bioweapons legal?
Specifically, the ban on possession of biological weapons is now widely recognized and can be argued to have become part of customary international law, as has the Geneva Protocol prohibition against the use in war of chemical and biological weapons.
Who first used biological warfare?
One of the first recorded uses of biological warfare occurred in 1347, when Mongol forces are reported to have catapulted plague-infested bodies over the walls into the Black Sea port of Caffa (now Feodosiya, Ukraine), at that time a Genoese trade centre in the Crimean Peninsula.
When was the last bioterrorist attack?
Another potential agent of bioterrorism is smallpox , which, unlike anthrax, can spread from person to person. Smallpox is no longer a disease of concern in the natural world — because concerted vaccination efforts stamped it out — and the last naturally spread case occurred in 1977.
What are the 3 bioterrorism threat levels?
The biological weapons as per the CDC classification are classified into three categories, Category A, B and C, as given in Table 1, based on the priority of the agents to pose a risk to the national security and the ease with which they can be disseminated [7].