Dog the Bounty Hunter Campaigning to Have Police Swap to Non-Lethal Bullets
Dog the Bounty Hunter has launched a campaign to get police officers to use non-lethal bullets and other means to take down suspects, citing his own experience of hunting fugitives.
Duane Chapman, who is better known by his bounty hunting persona and became something of a household name as a result of his reality TV show, told Fox News on Thursday that there were other ways to handle suspects that wouldn't result in death.
His campaign is called "Take the Lead Out" and he shared an email address where interested parties could make contact. Chapman explained that he had never used lethal force as a bounty hunter.
"I've arrested over 8,000 fugitives in a 43-year career and have never shot anyone and killed them," Chapman.
"We've used all non-lethal weapons. We're going to get the lead out of the bullet and replace it with rubber and or wood. I've shown a thousand arrests on different networks in America in the last 15 years and I've been attacked [by] ... machetes, shopping carts, guns, knives."
"I've shot a lot, but I've never killed [anyone] because on my team you will not use a lethal weapon. It's not the gun that kills or the officer. It's the lead in the bullet," he said.
"[Police officers] shoot someone right now, you got a problem," Chapman went on.
"So let's take the lead out of the bullet and let's protect them. And you've seen me do it thousands of times. I've been attacked by armed fugitives, felons running at me, and shot many with non-lethal weapons. It works. All you need to do is get them down so you can cuff him."
"You need to stop killing them. And I don't think they're killing them on purpose. As you know, brother, there's no such thing in America. When you go to a police academy as trained, you know, train them to wound. All police are trained to kill. So let's take the lead out of their bullet," he said.
Chapman said the idea could be a "bipartisan bill" and stressed the need to "get the lead out of that bullet."
"Who's going to want to keep the lead in so you can kill someone? Who's going to do that, and that will separate the men from the boys. I think every cop in America, every citizen, we got to stop them. They're coming at you. They just robbed a store, kidnapping someone, you got to stop them.
"A wood bullet, a rubber bullet will stop them just like the lead bullet. But they will not die," he said, adding that being hit directly in the head could still result in death from wooden or rubber bullets.
Chapman's new campaign comes at a time of renewed scrutiny on police use of firearms following the death of Daunte Wright and the release of bodycam footage of the shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo.
Newsweek has contacted Take the Lead Out for comment.
