'Painting' the target in border clashes

AP/Dallas Morning News:

Some U.S. Border Patrol agents along the Mexican border are packing paintball rifles, but they're not being used for games.

Agents in the patrol's Tucson, San Diego and Yuma sectors have been armed with guns that launch pepper spray and paintball projectiles and are trained to fire paintballs when they come under attack along border fences.

Splattering paint on rock throwers at high velocities is intended to dissuade them and to combat what has become a sharp increase in the number of rockings and other assaults on agents along the Mexican border.

"It has become a very effective tool," said Border Patrol spokesman Ramon Rivera. "It has helped agents dramatically."

The Border Patrol has about 1,000 of the paintball guns, which have been in the hands of agents since October. The gun, known as the FN303, is produced by a Belgian company and it replaced a less effective paintball gun that was used for three or four years in Nogales, Ariz., Rivera said.

At a range of about 225 to 250 feet, someone hit with a paintball could end up with stinging, welts, bruises or contusions, "and you're not going to just be able to wipe it (the paint) off your clothes," Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd Easterling said.

"It certainly lets you know that you've been hit with one of these things; it's designed for you to take note and to stop what you're doing."

...

I think that is called a "memorable experience" in using non lethal force. For a while I had a low voltage wire around some of my flower beds to keep the critters out. Having accidentally touched it on occasion, I can attest that it too was a memorable experience that got my attention. Most of the rock throwing is cross border. That is the reason there are no arrest.