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NFDDs may be divided into two categories���those that only produce light and sound and those that also eject either chemicals (OC / CS) or projectiles (rubber pellets). An example of the latter would be the Stingball Grenade. Te term fash-bang is typically applied to fash / sound-only devices. Although the U.S. military has used grenade simulators for more than 60 years, the Operations Research Unit of the British 22 Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment is credited with the development of the frst modern fash-bang in the early 1970s. Te SAS also developed and refned the tactics for the employment for these devices. Te frst documented operational use of a fashbang was by Israeli commandos during Operation Tunderbolt to rescue passengers of a hijacked Air France jetliner at Entebbe, Uganda in July 1976. In the U.S., the Los Angeles Police Department D Platoon (SWAT) was one of the frst tactical teams to employ the fash-bang. Te LAPD���s frst fash-bang was a M116A1 Modifed Hand Grenade Simulator, which was loaded down by the LAPD Bomb Squad. Today, it would be difcult, if not impossible, to fnd a tactical team anywhere in the country that does not have fash-bangs in its tactical toolbox. p During training, a fash-bang goes off in the basement of a house where an armed perpetrator waits for a tactical team. p Royal Arms FBG-1 Flash-Bang Training Grenade is a new blank-fring impact grenade designed for tactical training that can use either special 12-gauge blanks or 209 primers. Lifesaver or Liability Flash-bangs can be either a lifesaver or a liability, depending on how they are employed. When properly employed, fash-bangs are reasonably safe. When improperly employed, they have the potential to cause serious bodily injuries and property damage. Although fash-bangs have proven to be of extremely low lethality over many years of tactical use, several deaths have been attributed to their use. In 1984, a Los Angeles, Calif. woman was killed when a fash-bang went of between her back and a wall. In 1989, police t CTS 7290T Flash-Bang Training System and 7290MT Mini Bang��� Training System. Photo courtesy of Combined Systems. in Minneapolis conducted a drug raid at the home of an elderly couple after a bad tip from an informant. Te fash-bangs used in the raid set the home on fre, resulting in the death of the couple from smoke inhalation. In 2003, a woman died from a heart attack after police deployed a fash-bang at her residence in Harlem, N.Y. In 2011, a CharlotteMecklenburg, N.C. SWAT ofcer was killed when a fash-bang went of in close proximity to his torso. Also in 2011, a man died in a fre that was apparently sparked by a fash-bang deployed through a window during a raid of the home in Greenfeld, Calif. In Kirk v. Watkins (1999), the United States Court of Appeal for the 10th Circuit stated, ���Te use of a fash-bang device is nei- www.trmagonline.com 37