Riot gun
type of firearm that is used to fire "non-lethal" or "less-lethal" ammunition for the purpose of suppressing riots
In current usage, a riot gun or less-lethal launcher is a type of firearm used to fire "non-lethal" or "less-lethal" ammunition for the purpose of suppressing riots or apprehending suspects with minimal harm or risk. Less-lethal launchers may be special purpose firearms designed for riot control use, or standard firearms, usually shotguns and grenade launchers, adapted for riot control use with appropriate ammunition. The ammunition is most commonly found in 12 gauge (18.5 mm/.729 inch) shotguns and 37mm (1.46 inch) or 40 mm (1.57 inch) grenade launchers.
In the United States, the term riot gun more commonly refers to a riot shotgun.
Ammunition
Less-lethal launchers can fire various sorts of ammunition, including:
Impact projectiles, which rely on kinetic energy, such as baton rounds, bean bag rounds, or rubber bullets
Tear gas cartridge
Pepper spray
Stun rounds
Smoke round
Less-lethal shotgun shells
Less-lethal grenades
Sound-emitting projectiles
GLIMPS (Grenade-Launched Imaging Modular Projectile System), a round containing a small camera that transmits images
To avoid breaking the projectile up, less-lethal cartridges are often propelled by gunpowder, which, when fired, may make an eruption of sparks and smoke larger than those made by modern cartridges propelled by smokeless powder.
Chemical agent ammunition
Chemical agents may be dispersed in three ways: muzzle dispersion, canister, and ferret.
Muzzle dispersion
This method is the simplest: the chemical agent is in the form of a loose powder, which is expelled by the propellant of the cartridge. These rounds are used at short range, and have effect from the muzzle to a range of about 30 feet. This method is best used by operators wearing gas masks, as the chemical agent can easily be blown towards the operator.
Canister projectiles
These are also called gas grenades, and are used at longer ranges.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Riot gun” is type of firearm that is used to fire "non-lethal" or "less-lethal" ammunition for the purpose of suppressing riots. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Riot, type and firearm, not as a finished interpretation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2862119. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Riot gun” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.