Do 12g Shotguns Still Have a Place in Riot Control?

Very few sounds are as universally well known as that of a shotgun action being racked. It is a sound that clearly imparts one thing: terrible force is ready to be engaged. The weapon is loaded (this is presumed). The chamber is loaded. The weapon is one that is capable of delivering devastating damage if deployed. If you’ve heard this sound, you should stand down or otherwise behave appropriately to ensure that the next step — that of the round being triggered off in your direction — doesn’t happen. The sound, if you perceive yourself on the receiving end of it, is one that can immediately instigate compliance and/or surrender. As one officer we spoke with put it, “It’s a universal language. You don’t need a translator, and it doesn’t matter what your first language is.”

If you are part of an unruly mob, you hear that sound and then the follow-on KA-BOOM! of the shotgun, followed immediately by stinging pain in your legs or lower abdomen; it can only mean one thing: you’ve been shot! All of the psychological impact that the sounds and pain impart is overwhelming. Psychologically you have to believe that you have been shot and received an injury equal to the devastating nature of the weapon. Right?

Welcome to the use of a 12-gauge (12g) pump-action shotgun for riot control or civil disturbance response work. While many of today’s law enforcement special operations teams or Civil Disturbance Response Units (CDU) use 37mm or 40mm special munitions launchers, that doesn’t mean there is no place for a good 12g dedicated less-lethal shotgun in the field serving the same purpose.

In fact, there are some strengths to using a 12g pump shotgun ahead of a 37/40mm launcher, most especially for smaller agencies.

Familiarity with a weapon system is the first requirement before use. Training is second, and proper deployment within legal and agency guidelines is third. A lot of patrol officers, unless they are military veterans, have no familiarity with the 37 or 40mm launchers. Not even all military veterans do, as there are a lot of military assignments where such knowledge isn’t required — so it isn’t trained. But a vast majority of law enforcement professionals are familiar with the pump-action shotgun either from prior experience (hunting as an example) or from exposure through job training. While it’s true that agencies have often set aside the patrol shotgun to be replaced by patrol rifles, there are reportedly more shotguns in the field today than there were just five years ago, and the numbers seem to be growing again. Why would that be?

The versatility of the shotgun has never gone away. It is still the better weapon for the destruction of rabid or vicious animals, can be used for breaching (by SWAT teams), and can deliver devastating energy on target when a handgun is insufficient. While a patrol rifle can only fire one type of ammunition, a pump-action 12g can chamber and fire any properly sized (to fit the weapon’s specific chamber) munition from a single heavy slug to sabots to multi-projectile to breaching to less-lethal to… well, you get the idea.

One constable we spoke with down in Texas stated, “I believe in giving the patrol guys every less-lethal tool they can have, and it only makes sense that they’d have the cross-over use for crowd control or dispersal.” That said, we agreed that there would need to be several controls on such dedicated shotguns.

First, they have to be truly dedicated to equipment and policy. The forend and stock need to be blaze orange or bright yellow. Twelve-gauge ammunition other than the less-lethal ammo issued by the agency must be prohibited and confirmed with inspection. For ease of department selection and purchase process, a single type of less-lethal ammo can be used, whether those are bean bag rounds, rubber shot, or whatever. Pick and issue only one. This simplifies training as well.

Second, they would have to have a sling. The shotgun can’t just be put down if it’s empty or you no longer need it. If you have to transition to another less-lethal tool or to lethal force, you’d have to sling the shotgun. This needs to be trained and reinforced on the range. Transition drills are there for a reason, and that reason doesn’t just apply to rifle/pistol transitions.

Third, there has to be sufficient and dedicated training time for proper deployment. When is the less-lethal shotgun deployment authorized? Under what controls and conditions? Is the weapon a direct engagement device (bean bags) or a deflected engagement device as required with some types of less lethal ammo? That all needs to be addressed in policy with proper curriculum development, delivery, and documentation.

Finally, the less-lethal shotgun has to be stored as if it’s a live weapon. It can’t just be left in a ballistic bag in the trunk or storage area of the patrol vehicle. It must be locked in because if it can be stolen, it can be used as a lethal weapon simply by a bad guy loading lethal ammo.

With all of those controls and the administrative policies in place to enforce them, the dedicated less-lethal shotgun certainly still has a place in crowd control and dispersal. It can, in fact, be a fairly cost-effective yet operationally effective tool that’s just going to waste in your agency armory because you don’t know what to do with the shotguns you’ve decommissioned as you switch to patrol rifles.