Dart gun

The modern dart gun was invented in the 1950s by New Zealander Colin Murdoch.^[5] During his involvement in a research project on Himalayan tahr in the Southern Alps, he considered that administering a dose of sedative from afar was safer for humans and more humane for animals than current methods of capture.^[6] To that end, Murdoch went on to develop a range of rifles, darts, and pistols.

The first modern remote drug-delivery system was invented by scientists at the University of Georgia in the 1950s, and was the direct predecessor to the Cap-Chur equipment used worldwide for decades. In 1953, a study on antler growth was conducted in which seven free-ranging bucks were tranquilized — three died from overdose, three were successfully anesthetized, and one was minimally sedated.^[7]

In the late 1950s, a team in Kenya headed by Toni Harthoorn discovered that various species, despite being of roughly equal size (for example, the rhinoceros and the buffalo), needed very different doses and spectra of drugs to safely anesthetize them.^[8]

In the early 1960s, the New York City Police Department considered adopting the tranquilizer gun. Deputy Commissioner Walter Arm suggested that it might replace tear gas if adopted but stressed that it would not be used for crowd control. In April 1962, the Planning Bureau arranged to pick up samples of weapons and sedatives manufactured by the Palmer Chemical and Equipment Company of Douglasville, Georgia. Samples of the sedative were turned over to the medical department for study, and the darts were tests on silhouette targets in pistol ranges. Tests in pistol ranges showed an accuracy rate of 90 percent at a range up to 45 yards. "The dart gun is still under study and in the experimental and research stages," Arm pointed out. "No recommendation has been made for its use." The department eventually rejected the weapon, both for not being as fast-acting as tear gas and for its potential to kill.^[9][10]

Since 1967, hollow bullets with sedatives for anesthesia of wild animals began to be used in the USSR.^[11] In the first half of the 1970s, experimental 9×53mmR cartridges for anesthesia of wild animals for 9mm "Los" bolt-action carbine and "flying dart" for 16 gauge shotguns were made and tested.^[12] In the mid-1970s, "flying dart" for 12 gauge shotguns and experimental cartridges for anesthesia of wild animals for the SPSh-44 pistol were made and tested.^[13] In the second half of the 1980s, the standard tranquillizer gun in the USSR was a single-shot IZh-18M shotgun (a dart with a dose of sedative was fired with a blank cartridge).^[14]

In 1968, after several failed prisoner-snatch missions in Vietnam, Chief SOG Colonel Jack Singlaub insisted on using tranquilizer darts. In the following prisoner-snatch mission, several SOG teams used tranquilizer guns with varying doses. NVA men who had been darted with lower doses retaliated and had to be shot, and NVA men who had been darted with higher doses died from overdose. None were successfully captured.^[15][16]

In 1979, Murdoch received a call from a police marksman on the Armed Offenders Squad about a man who had taken his wife hostage. Murdoch gave the officer instructions on what dose to use, where to dart the offender, and at what setting to have the weapon's velocity.^[17][18]

While initially designed for delivering sedatives, veterinarians and farmers recognized that the remote drug-delivery system could be used to deliver medications. In 1993, the first wildlife contraceptive was invented, and darts have since been used to deliver contraceptives to does — a humane alternative to hunting.^[19] Starting in Kansas in the late 90s, it has become commonplace for farmers to use darts to deliver antibiotics to sick cattle.^[20] While farmers had been administering medications to cattle before the invention of the dart gun, it had been impossible to do so without capturing the animal.^[21]

The dart, usually .50 caliber (12.7 mm)^{[citation needed]}, is a ballistic syringe loaded with a solution and tipped with a hypodermic needle. The dart is propelled from the gun by compressed gas, and it is stabilized in flight by a tailpiece consisting of a tuft of fibrous material. The needle may be plain or collared, with a barb-like ring to improve retention of the needle and syringe to assure that the full dose is administered.

Methods of driving injection upon impact include: gas compression, spring compression, explosive charge, or gas evolution reaction.^[22] In one example, compressed air or butane in the rear of the dart pressurizes the solution, while the needle is capped to hold the fluid in place. Upon striking the target, the cap is pierced by the needle as it punctures the animal's skin. With the pressure released, the compressed gas pushes the solution out of the syringe and into the target.

As with all forms of sedation, tranquilizer darts are never risk-free. Unlike other forms of sedation, it is not possible to perform a pre-anesthetic evaluation beforehand, as this requires a level of cooperation that would make darting unnecessary. Supportive care for unconscious animals, such as artificial ventilation, intravenous therapy, or inotropic support, is often not possible in field situations.^[23] In addition to the risks of the sedative itself such as respiratory failure from overdose, fatal allergic reactions such as anaphylaxis, and aspiration pneumonia or asphyxiation from vomiting while unconscious, there are other circumstances that pose secondary risks of serious injury or death, such as subjects running into a body of water and drowning, falling victim to predators, or climbing to potentially fatal heights before falling.^[24][25][26] One of the most controversial animal deaths caused by tranquilization was in February 2009 when a 10-pound dog that had gotten loose was tranquilized by animal control and subsequently died from overdose. "The dog was jumping around a man who was in the area holding his child, wanting to play. That's why it's so unbelievable they shot it with dart," a witness recounted.^[27]

In 1987, as the New York City Police Department continued its search "for a device that is stronger than a nightstick and less dangerous than a gun", they rejected tranquilizer darts as "too dangerous".^[10]

Darts can be dangerous regardless of what they are being used to deliver, as they can cause fatal injury due to improper velocity setting or shot placement.^[26]

Tranquilizer darts are banned for use in war by Article I.5 of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the use of all chemical agents in warfare.^[47] Tranquilizer darts are classified as deadly weapons.^[54][55] The only time when tranquilizer darts are not classified as deadly force is in situations where the subject's weight, physical condition, allergies, and what drugs are currently in their system are all known factors (such as zoos and prisons).^[56]