Crowd control
Plastic bullets that can be fired from AK-47 and INSAS rifles have been used by the Indian security forces for Crowd control in Jammu and Kashmir in India. They are used along with other riot control agents such as tear gas, chili grenades, and pellet guns (riot shotguns that fire pellet cartridges) by security forces against stone pelting protestors during violent clashes in Jammu and Kashmir. According to CRPF officials, the plastic bullets can only be fired in single shot mode and not in the burst mode. The problem in using the plastic bullets is it can only be used on one person at a time while the pellet guns could cover a larger area with multiple persons. 21,000rounds of plastic bullets were sent to Kashmir in 2018 for riot control. Usage of plastic bullets is based on the list of non-lethal weapons that are approved by the United Nations peacekeeping standards for crowd control.