Less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-lethal weapons, non-eadly weapons, or, more recently, compliance weapons are weapons intended to be unlikely to kill or to cause great bodily injury to a living target. In the past, police (or soldiers) called to a riot were primarily limited to use of bayonet or saber charges, or firing live ammunition at crowds. Less-lethal riot control weapons were developed to reduce the loss of life in such situations.