Omega Research Foundation and was accompanied by the caption ‘Sorry teacher’, in reference to that day’s teachers’ strike in Rio de Janeiro. Military Police officer provokes widespread criticism by posting picture online showing broken baton (Photo: Tiago Tiroteio’s Facebook account)48 Recommendations:   Strictly control the use of hand-held kinetic impact striking weapons and regulate the development and transfer of such weapons. Provide rigorous human rights and scenario-based training for law enforcement officials on the correct use of hand-held kinetic impact striking weapons to mitigate the risk of excessive or unnecessary use of force causing unwarranted injury. Kinetic impact projectiles Similar to conventional rounds of ammunition, these propel a range of different projectiles to the target. Projectiles can be made of wood, rubber, plastic or other materials (e.g. fabric bags weighted with lead shot). Single and multiple projectiles can be fired including, for example, balls, segments, blocks or cylinders of wood, plastic or rubber (often referred to as ‘rubber bullets’). On impact they are designed to cause blunt trauma (i.e. non-penetrating trauma); however they often cause serious injuries including lacerations, broken bones, concussion, head injuries or internal organ damage. The risk of serious injury or death is significantly increased when kinetic impact projectiles are fired at close range or aimed at sensitive parts of the body, e.g. the head, chest and abdomen. A wide variety of weapons are used to fire kinetic impact projectiles. Conventional small arms such as assault rifles or shotguns can be used for this purpose; others are specially designed to fire only specific ammunition. There are also generic ‘less lethal’49 launchers which can fire a wide variety of ammunition of the same calibre. Common calibres include: 37/38mm, 40mm, 56mm, 12 gauge. 48 Cristiane Cardoso, ‘PM Exibe Cassetete Quebrado, Diz ‘Foi Mal, Fessor’ E Causa Repúdio Na Web’, Globo, 4 October 2013, <http://g1.globo.com/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/2013/10/pm-exibe-cassetete-quebrado-diz-foimal-fessor-e-causa-repudio-na-web.html> [accessed 31 May 2016]. 49 This report uses the term ‘less lethal’ rather than ‘non-lethal’ as all weapons are potentially lethal with the degree of risk varying for different types of weapons and how they are used. For more on the use of terminology to describe law enforcement equipment, see Abi Dymond-Bass and Neil Corney ‘The review of weapons under international humanitarian law and human rights law’, in Stuart Casey-Maslen, Weapons under International Human Rights Law, 2014. 16