HAND-TOSSED
When looking at the continuum of force options available to civilians, as opposed to those used by armed professionals in law enforcement and military service, there’s a small but glaring gap in available technology. They’re known by a slew of monikers like flash-bangs, NFDDs (Noise and Flash Distraction Devices), concussion grenades, stun grenades, crashers, or bangers. No matter what you call them, the operating principle is the same: a hand-thrown “grenade” type device with a short time-delay fuse that emits a loud bang and blinding flash of light for the purpose of distracting or disorienting anyone in the immediate vicinity. This allows an attacker (or defender) to expand their OODA loop by disrupting their opponent’s, buying valuable time to attack, counterattack, or escape.
The first known example we could find of a device like this is the military-issue Mark 3 (MK3) concussion/demolition grenade. The design dates back to 1918 and was effective in trench warfare. The original concept was that the MK3 could injure or disorient personnel and destroy equipment without endangering friendly forces with indiscriminate fragmentation. It was simply a lump of TNT housed in a cardboard tube with a pull-ring fuse.
From there, the design was refined over time, with the next major milestone coming out of the UK in the late 1970s, when the so-called stun grenade first saw use by the Counterterrorist Wing of the British Special Air Service (SAS). Stun grenades typically
