Less Lethal Fantastic Firearms

[Randel]

I've been watching several of the old Batman the Animated Series episodes and got a look at Harley Quinns gun. Its pretty interesting in that it looks like its a six-shooter with an over sized barrel where a cork is inserted.

After thinking about it, I remembered about rifle grenades (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifle_grenade) (basically a grenade placed on the barrel of the gun, firing the gun launches the grenade much farther and accurately than you could possibly throw... effectively turning the gun into a grenade launcher for one shot and you can naturally get back to firing normally immediately afterward.)

So basically, Harley's gun is a specially designed pistol that uses regular ammo, but uses that ammo to launch a fist-sized cork (probably has some metal in the back to help catch the bullet) right at people. Its like being able to punch people in the face at twenty yards with a gun!

And of course its got the string on it so she can reuse the cork over and over and just reload it. Or she could load it with a canister of something (like Joker Gas or glue) in order to launch it with her gun. With the barrel as it is, firing it without the cork would be extremely inaccurate.

The funny thing is, that in a superhero comic book or show, than a gun like that is effectively more dangerous than a regular on that just shoots bullets! Since superheroes can just dodge those pesky lethal bullets, a huge chunk of cork could hit them easily because it can't kill them! So while imperial stormtroopers and mobsters are laying down fire with blasters or machine guns, a girl in a clown suit with a gun that shoots corks has a higher change of hitting and incapacitating the heroes than they do (though I suppose some of that is conservation of ninjitsu or something... if a squad of people came in with cork-guns then it would just look silly).


The other one is Roxy Rockets flare gun. It makes sense because she's got an aviator theme going, plus the flares explode into huge pyrotechnic displays when they hit. Its probably slightly less lethal than a bullet (but I think its about as lethal as getting hit with fireworks, some nasty burns and injuries are a given if you actually hit with it) but its main advantage is being able to cause a huge distraction and potentially set the place on fire with it.


Anyway, I just find it interesting that there are some fairly realistic guns that could be used in a realistic superhero story that explains why the heroes don't get turned into swiss cheese the first time the bad guys draw their weapons.

Anyway, what are some other cool ranged weapons (either fictional or real) that can incapacitate people without killing them (too often).

Edit: read the article on rifle grenades again, turns out the rifle grenades require blanks to fire them without damaging the gun... though her gun might be designed to accept regular bullets for whatever reason.

[Cubey]

Not technically firearms, although definitely used and treated as ones in-story:

Most forms of magic in Nanoha cannot kill people. It can only knock them out - this restriction is apparently government-regulated, and normal firearms are illegal. Non-living matter can be destroyed, and this distinction of lethality is possible because... it's magic.

Note though, this limitation does not exist to eliminate the kill count from the series. Some characters do die, and indirect ways of offing people with spells (destroy a vehicle they are traveling in, break a cliff they're under so rock falls and everyone dies, not to mention just stabbing someone with a bladed weapon some characters carry) are shown and treated as genuine dangers.
However, magic damage being non-lethal does give the main, trigger-happy heroine an excuse to blast the crap out of everyone, and still have something to befriend once she's done.

[SurlySeraph]

There's the bowel disruptor from Transmetropolitan.

[Fri]

And the orgasm gun from larry niven's books.

[Joran]

There's the Point of View gun from the most recent Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsgbcYnmR6Y

When used on someone, it will cause them to see things from the point of view of the person firing the gun. According to the Guide, the gun was commissioned by the Intergalactic Consortium of Angry Housewives, who were tired of ending every argument with their husbands with the phrase: "You just don't get it, do you?"

[Dervag]

The funny thing is, that in a superhero comic book or show, than a gun like that is effectively more dangerous than a regular on that just shoots bullets! Since superheroes can just dodge those pesky lethal bullets, a huge chunk of cork could hit them easily because it can't kill them!...Oh. I see what you mean, though that's purely an argument from genre conventions. It wouldn't work in a comic book whose artist enjoys subverting the expectations of the audience; imagine if someone were idiotic enough to come out with a gimmick weapon like that in the Batman-setting of the recent Nolan movies (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight).


Anyway, what are some other cool ranged weapons (either fictional or real) that can incapacitate people without killing them (too often).Tasers are a classic; they can kill, but usually don't.

[raitalin]

Well, there's sticky foam (http://defensetech.org/2006/03/07/sticky-foam-gets-serious/)

The flexible baton round (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_baton_round) (or bean bag round) for shotguns

Various directed-energy weapons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed-energy_weapon#Particle_beam_weapons), almost all in research stages

Not so much a gun, but the LED incapacitator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_Incapacitator) bears mentioning

Tear gas obviously, but lesser know is blister gas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blister_agent)

The granddaddy of fictional non-lethals is the Star Trek phaser, which is also the theoretical culmination of small-arms science, since it is perfectly accurate, 100% effective (except against Borg) and can be any variation of non-lethal to lethal.

[factotum]

Speaking of Larry Niven, he had a gun in "A Gift From Earth" that was specifically designed to not kill or internally damage anyone--it shot a sort of crystalline tranquilliser that penetrated the skin and dissolved, knocking the target out. The reason for that is because the people doing the shooting didn't want any of the target's vital organs damaged, since they would likely be harvested for the organ banks later on! (There was a mention of a deadly version of the ammo that could be used, but it had been in storage so long that no-one was sure if it would still work).

Er, Star Trek phaser 100% accurate? Have you SEEN all the situations in the series and the film where someone firing a phaser managed to miss their target? (Generally when the target was one of the main characters, admittedly, but it happened rather a lot!).

[Jolly Steve]

Green Arrow's boxing glove arrow.

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/dcanimated/images/thumb/0/02/TrickArrow.jpg/250px-TrickArrow.jpg

It's a bit hard to see in that picture, it just looks like he's wearing a boxing glove, but...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Fistarrow.jpg

According to TVTropes, he also has handcuff arrows, jiu-jitsu arrows, and "oxygen-mask arrows; particularly puzzling since they are never seen to be fired...simply used as ordinary oxygen-masks... with the rest of the arrow sticking out of them."

[Jolly Steve]

Er, Star Trek phaser 100% accurate? Have you SEEN all the situations in the series and the film where someone firing a phaser managed to miss their target? (Generally when the target was one of the main characters, admittedly, but it happened rather a lot!).

But the weapon itself might still be accurate, in the sense that the beam went where it was pointed.

[raitalin]

But the weapon itself might still be accurate, in the sense that the beam went where it was pointed.

Exactly, user error accounts for a lot. An energy-beam weapon should be by its very nature 100% accurate.

[thubby]

Exactly, user error accounts for a lot. An energy-beam weapon should be by its very nature 100% accurate.

no it shouldn't. whatever form of energy it is is still subject o tons of forces. lasers are moving through refractive material, plasmas and such are subject to magnetism, grab a physicist and im sure they could tell you all sorts of things.

[Etcetera]

Microwave ray guns. (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427286.100-portable-pain-weapon-may-end-up-in-police-hands.html)
http://www.bizamproductions.com/bizamlog/uploaded_images/microwave_ray_gun_web.jpg

[warty goblin]

no it shouldn't. whatever form of energy it is is still subject o tons of forces. lasers are moving through refractive material, plasmas and such are subject to magnetism, grab a physicist and im sure they could tell you all sorts of things.

Over the distances you can see somebody well enough to shoot at them with an unscoped weapon, laser dissipation is probably pretty insignificant.

[snoopy13a]

Stormtroopers improve their accuracy when they set their blasters to stun :smalltongue:

I believe that rubber bullets can be used by riot police.

[darkblade]

The Blamethrower and Clothing Shrinking Ray from Mystery Men.

[sihnfahl]

Sticky Guns. Shoots an extremely sticky foam out to a range of 30'.

Literally glues someone to the spot.

Might not come into use as accidentally (or intentionally) hitting the mouth and nose would most likely result in suffocation.


Tasers are a classic; they can kill, but usually don't.
Something Taser International is quite adamant about is that nobody has ever died from being shocked by one of their tasers and they have the coroner reports to prove it.

[Dervag]

no it shouldn't. whatever form of energy it is is still subject o tons of forces. lasers are moving through refractive material, plasmas and such are subject to magnetism, grab a physicist and im sure they could tell you all sorts of things.Anything that will distort a laser beam will also distort the light coming to you from the target. Point the laser at where you see the target and you will hit it, even if the target is hidden from you by crazy lenses or funhouse mirrors. They're very reliable that way.


But the weapon itself might still be accurate, in the sense that the beam went where it was pointed.In Star Trek, part of the problem is that the weapons are badly designed, like the electric-shaver looking phaser pistols. That's got to make them hard to aim.

[Wardog]

Over the distances you can see somebody well enough to shoot at them with an unscoped weapon, laser dissipation is probably pretty insignificant.

At the ranges most ST shoot-outs occur, conventional firearms would also be almost 100% accurate, with user error being the only real source of inaccuracy. (Assuming the recoil wasn't too much to keep under control).