The
Hague Convention of 1899, Declaration III, prohibited the use in
international warfare of bullets that easily expand or flatten in the body.[SUP]
[3][/SUP] This is often incorrectly believed to be prohibited in the
Geneva Conventions, but it significantly predates those conventions, and is in fact a continuance of the
St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868, which banned exploding projectiles of less than 400 grams, as well as weapons designed to aggravate injured soldiers or make their death inevitable.
NATO members do not use small arms ammunition that are prohibited by the Hague Convention and the United Nations.[SUP]
[citation needed]
[/SUP]
Despite the ban on military use, hollow-point bullets are one of the most common types of bullets used by civilians and
police,[SUP]
[4][/SUP] which is due largely to the reduced risk of bystanders being hit by over-penetrating or
ricocheted bullets, and the increased speed of incapacitation.[SUP]
[citation needed][/SUP]
In many
jurisdictions, even ones such as the
United Kingdom, where expanding ammunition is generally prohibited, it is illegal to
hunt certain types of
game with ammunition that does
not expand.[SUP]
[5][/SUP][SUP]
[6][/SUP] Some target ranges forbid
full metal jacket ammunition, due to its greater tendency to damage metal targets and backstops
United States[
edit]
The state of
New Jersey bans possession of hollow point bullets by civilians except for ammunition possessed at one's dwelling, premises or other land owned or possessed. The law also requires all hollow point ammunition to be transported directly from the place of purchase to one's home, or by members of a rifle or pistol club directly to a place of target practice, or directly to an authorized target range from the place of purchase or one's home.[SUP]
[9][/SUP]
nthego:
