Painful Riot Control System Sales Soar as World Prepares for Unrest

A new report details that the market for the manufacture and sale of riot control systems worldwide is growing at an alarming rate, as increasingly authoritarian governments prepare for ethnic unrest, religious riots, political disputes, and violence against corrupt officials and organizations.

Over the next five years, the market for crowd control tools is expected to boom, from $9.05 billion in 2016 to some $11.78 billion by 2021, at a rate of 5.4%, according to RNR Market Research.

Currently, the market is dominated by North American companies, due to technological advancement and growing fears of terrorism and civil unrest. The report forecasts, however, that over the coming years, Asian-Pacific and Middle Eastern markets will grow at the highest rate. Current popular products for handling unrest without inflicting lethal harm include offensive and defensive weapons, electromagnetic and sonic weapons, kinetic impact weapons, chemical agents, and more.

Of the weaponry available on the market, directed energy weapons (a subset of offensive weapons) is projected to grow at the highest rate, including what are termed active denial systems (ADS) or “pain rays.”

“The Active Denial System was designed to generate an intense sensation strong enough to stop a marauding crowd of ne’er-do-wells in their nefarious tracks without ever actually harming them. So it’s basically like a giant beam of don’t-do-that energy,” according to a colorful report titled, “Everybody Loves Directed Energy” on the website of the US Department of Defense.

The biggest players in the market are currently Taser International Manufacturing Company (US), Combined Systems Inc. (US), The SAFARILAND Group (US), and Condor Non-lethal Technologies (Brazil), the report revealed.