Re:Tear Gas – Illegal in War but OK for Riot Control
by elektronjunge on Monday October 20, 2014 @03:53PM
(#8484115)
Its illegal in war because of a fear of miscalculation, not because of its effects: i.e. a soldier may call in a retaliatory strike proportional to chemical weapons because its difficult to tell the difference between tear gas and something more lethal in the heat of battle.
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Re:Tear Gas – Illegal in War but OK for Riot Control
by serf on Monday October 20, 2014 @04:30PM
(#8484318)
the OPCW claims the convention was formed due to rapid innovation in the chemical weapon section - leading to the realization that small countries could own an arsenal capable of producing doomsday without much material wealth. [0]
[0]: http://www.opcw.org/news-publications/publications/history-o...
Re:Tear Gas – Illegal in War but OK for Riot Control
by fiatmoney on Monday October 20, 2014 @05:31PM
(#8484642)
That's not really accurate. They're banned because there is no net benefit if both sides have them, and they only serve to make wars more destructive. The exact same logic lead to parallel bans on exploding / poisoned / expanding / fragmenting ammunition and later land mines.