I’ve been paying close attention to the war in Israel and Gaza; watching a lot of footage. Came across some video of Palestinians — probably late teens/early 20s — throwing stones at vehicles in a chaotic protest on a road. This was, I believe, on Saturday, and it wasn’t clear to me whether the footage was real time or from recent protests.
Suddenly, one of the most active stone-throwers pulled up his right leg, his face knotted in a grimace of pain, and he began to hop away on his good leg. His comrades abandoned their pile of rocks and helped him down an incline and out of the frame.
I knew immediately what had happened: The stone-thrower had taken a .22lr round to the ankle or shin.
“Medics in the Gaza Strip have reported treating an influx of protesters who appear to have been deliberately targeted in the ankle by Israeli forces in recent unrest at the volatile boundary of the blockaded Palestinian enclave. At least one person has been killed and dozens more wounded since demonstrations by groups of young men, some of them throwing stones and molotov cocktails, began in mid-September.”
The Guardian being The Guardian, this was presented as a new cruelty inflicted by the Occupation on oppressed Palestinians.
Human rights groups say that such targeting procedures are unlawful as they allow the use of potentially lethal force with no immediate threat to soldiers’ lives.
They did get one paragraph of “balance” into the piece:
In a statement, the IDF said: “Over the past few weeks, the Hamas terror organisation has organised violent riots along the border fence, for purposes of harming Israeli security forces … It should be noted that the IDF resorts to live fire only after exhausting all available options, and only as necessary to handle imminent threat.”
For years, the IDF has been deploying integrally suppressed .22 caliber Ruger 10/22 carbines, originally as a “less lethal” option for riot control. They are also used as a “hush puppy” to take out dogs and lights in raid operations. Because Israel actually adheres to rules of engagement and laws of combat, the Israeli Judge Advocate General tested the effect of fire from the .22lr and reclassified it as a lethal weapon, which restricts its use.
But clearly, it was in the field in the weeks preceding the explosion of violence in Hamas’ Operation Al Aqsa Flood.
The use of a .22 in a sniper role at limited range, especially in urban environments makes a lot of sense. It’s comparatively quiet even unsuppressed, making it difficult for an enemy to determine where fire is coming from. Suppressed, it’s pretty close to silent; only the sonic crack of the bullet is heard. If your target is higher than the ankles, a .22 can be plenty lethal. Ask any emergency room doc.
Chechens deployed .22 snipers against Russian troops in urban combat in the 1990s, using makeshift suppressors made from plastic bottles — a technique depicted in the movie Shooter, based off of Stephen Hunter’s classic thriller Point of Impact. They were taking head shots.
The Russians took heed, and developed a purpose-built .22 sniper rifle, the Kalashnikov SV99:
The .22 LR SV-99 sniper rifle was developed as a precision small-caliber weapon for special forces snipers to silently engage enemy personnel and other targets at ranges up to 100 meters, as well as for training purposes.
For their part, the IDF now has an updated and upgraded Ruger to work with (seen in the top photo):
Countless threads on gun forums have flogged the topic to death and beyond, but it bears keeping in mind that the .22 is more than just a plinker.
Monk says
So the Guardian get it right when it quotes the IDF, but not when it quotes a
human rights group.
The IDF also stated there is no proof of Iranian involvement contrary to what
the Wall Street Journal stated.
Come on Jim, bit more nuance………The Truth, first casualty in war………you
can do better, I would have thought, wanna talk about guns fair enough, always
interesting. The Guardian I am reading is pretty balanced in my view.
Washago says
The Guardian is totally anti-Israel and has been forever. They publish one lie after another against the Jewish state but believe everything that Hamas says. They are a Leftist rag which if you find them balanced, you are predisposed to their point of view.
Mary says
What is the source that the IDF said Iran was not involved? Since there is no question about Iran’s involvement, I wondered in what context that was stated.
Are you a new reader of the Guardian? It is not balanced, nor does it pretend to be especially concerning Israel. Hope your scope of information widens to include the truth.
Rick+Schwertfeger says
It seems that firing .22LR rounds at the legs of protesters is a rather “humane” pacification technique. Yes sir, that young man was hit and wounded; yes, the round did some damage; but his trunk, head, and vital organs were not hit. Yes, he needs medical attention. High likelihood of survival, perhaps without permanent damage. What am I missing?
Dudewhat says
You’re missing the part where it’s morally wrong to shoot your own citizens protesting. My god
Washago says
Protesting is not throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails. That’s violent insurrection and totally legit to use force in return. My god indeed.
Brandon says
“Without permanent damage” is wishful thinking. Kneecapping people usually leaves them crippled for life and especially with how young many of the people they shoot – only teenagers – that’s the rest of their life on crutches. Also this isn’t America, they’re poor and in Palestine the medical care isn’t half of what you might expect.
Joe says
I remember my dad referring to .22LR as a plinking round, then seeing my uncle take out a skunk with it. I was always curious about that scene from The Shooter. Now I’ll have to look up and see if Bob Lee Swagger’s tripod is as effective in reality as well hah.
All joking aside, the idea of taking leg/ankle shots when all other options have failed goes against conventional self-defense advice at first glance, but probably makes a lot of sense for trained sharpshooters.
Quixotic Mainer says
Seems like they would be better served by pepper ball, 40 mm baton rounds or CS in that situation, I have a hard time getting behind putting lead in as less lethal. That situation is brutal certainly, and the line separating a citizen rioter and an insurgent combatant must be hard to see at times. And rocks can and do kill and grievously wound. But as a mentor once told me; you have rules of engagement and you have your conscience, follow both but remember which one you keep your whole life.
Here’s hoping this doesn’t fuel up the “shoot em in the leg” braintrusts…
JimC says
Yeah, not a template for self-defense. This is about taking riot instigators out of the equation; not equivalent to someone, say, attacking you with a crowbar. The shoot-’em-in-the-leg folk don’t understand that self-defense is about stopping a threat as immediately and decisively as possible.
There also seems to be a push in some quarters to plump the self-defense capabilities of the .22, which is silly. Trying to get people to understand that the .22 is a killer but not a stopper can be a fruitless endeavor.
As noted, the .22 Ruger was initially designated as “less lethal,” (I think as far back as the 1980s) but the Israeli JAG rejected that — it is regarded as a lethal weapon, with its use restricted. There is certainly a lot of risk of things going bad.
Robert Kennedy says
The Brits used 40mm Baton Rounds aka rubber bullets in Ireland, but outlawed their use in England due to their lethality. Better to be shot in the leg with a .22 then have their chest, ribs, or facial bones crushed by a rubber bullet.
Quixotic Mainer says
Well said!
I think the .22 phenomenon comes from folks determined to carry, (and sell), increasingly tiny subcompact and airweight pistols. Instead of opting for a more shootable iron, they just chamber it in something gentler shooting regardless of it’s real world performance. Hyping their portability sells a lot more blasters than letting the uneducated know that they are minimalist weapons for very experienced shooters.
John says
The late Col. Jeff Cooper had an essay in his book “To Ride Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth” which was titled Rimfire in Riot Control. He basically advocated for the use of designated marksmen armed with the .22lr who were responsible for removing the riot leaders from their leadership role with as little panic as possible. Seems the IDF liked the idea.
JimC says
Holy smokes! What a blast from the past. I read that book way too many years ago and totally forgot about that until you brought it up.
Quixotic Mainer says
I have always wanted to read that one, every copy I have seen online has been over 100 bucks!
caleb says
The fact that i have a ruger 10/22 and i have taken out targets at 300 yards with iron sights, When i got the can back it had a average hole in the front but the back was blown out plus 22lr is sum what easy to find and sum what cheap