10. LAUNCHERS Description: Law enforcement officials use a wide range of weapons and launchers for the management of public gatherings. All of these fire (or in the case of some drones, release) projectiles. The following weapons correspond to the pictures above and are included due to the frequency with which they are used or their potential for increased use in the future: Many security forces are equipped with shotguns, and some use them for crowd control. They fire a range of ammunition, including single or multiple projectiles, which may be made of metal or other materials, such as rubber and plastic. Metal projectiles should never be used, as they are much more likely to be lethal. Ammunition generating other effects, such as irritation, dye-marking or stunning the person targeted, is widely available. Shotguns used by law enforcement are usually re-loaded via a pump action on the lower tube, although semi-automatic shotguns are also used. Some specially-designed, less lethal launchers use compressed air to launch a range of small plastic projectiles with different characteristics (e.g., impact, impact and irritant, irritant and dye-marking/paint). They can often be distinguished by the canister of compressed air that is attached to the weapon. Handheld launchers can be single, double or multi-shot. They are capable of firing a wide range of kinetic impact munitions or chemical irritants. They can be identified by their wide barrels, typically 37/38 mm or 40 mm, compared with other police firearms. Launchers are also known as “riot guns” or grenade launchers. Fixed or mountable multiple barrel launchers are usually mounted on vehicles, but can also be stand-alone or fixed to permanent structures, such as buildings. The number of barrels varies, and they allow individual, sequential or simultaneous firing of kinetic impact munitions and chemical irritant or stun projectiles.