Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, are repurposing a long-carried weapon in patrol cars — the shotgun. But now, those weapons are being converted to only contain “less-lethal” bean bag rounds.
Deputy Chief Brooke Wright with Fairfax County Police said the shotgun was an important weapon to have when the county was more rural, but now, it is rarely used with traditional ammunition in the much more urban county because shotgun rounds spread when fired.
“When you think about if you were to respond to like an active shooter, in a mall or something, that’s not what you want, right, you don’t know who you’re going to hit or where,” Wright said.
During active shooter situations and other acts of violence, according to Wright, officers typically turn to their patrol rifles.
In the past, officers could load shotguns with less lethal bean bag rounds, but Wright said the process isn’t a quick one because a second officer must verify that the lethal rounds have been removed from the gun. Now loaded with only bean bag rounds, the shotguns have been outfitted with bright orange stocks and fore-ends, and the words “less lethal” appear on the gun.
Wright said officers support the move, and she believes the conversion of the shotguns is a “no brainer” for the department.
“This is actually removing something that wasn’t being used and hopefully giving them something that helps them do their jobs,” Wright said.
When the bean bags hit someone, Wright said it will “leave a mark” and disable the person. Officers equipped with the less-lethal shotguns have been trained on how to deploy the beanbags without causing “major” injuries, police said.
“We’re not really going to do damage, we’re looking at hitting extremities and things like that, that they (the beanbag shotguns) really give us the opportunity to, to save lives,” Wright said.
The change doesn’t mean officers won’t carry lethal weapons, a spokesperson told WTOP, as police will still carry handguns.
Since March, the department has removed all 800 of its shotguns and replaced the weapons with 630 less-lethal beanbag shotguns.
