Rabb will introduce legislation to ban police use of control agents like tear gas, pepper balls, mace and rubber bullets

HARRISBURG, June 3 – State Rep. Chris Rabb said he will introduce legislation to ban police from using crowd control agents like tear gas, pepper balls, mace and rubber bullets. 

“Debilitating weapons of war have no place being used against civilians,” Rabb said. “And crowd control agents like tear gas and rubber bullets are exactly that, weapons of war. But even some of those agents were banned for use in warfare by the 1925 Geneva Protocol, so there’s absolutely no reason they should be used on civilians in our communities in Pennsylvania.” 

Rabb said that until last year, during demonstrations by protestors after George Floyd was murdered by police in Minnesota, police in Philadelphia had not used tear gas in 35 years. His forthcoming legislation would ban the use of crowd control agents by law enforcement in Pennsylvania. 

As a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, I acknowledge this commonwealth exists on the tribal lands of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Munsee, Shawnee and Susquehannock.