Yes there is - it's called the Geneva Convention and the signatories have to use 'full metal jacketed' ammunition so that it doesn't 'mushroom' on impact. Of course Al Quaida is not a signatory but it doesn't matter - we are and will will continue to comply...
Yes there is - it's called the Geneva Convention and the signatories have to use 'full metal jacketed' ammunition so that it doesn't 'mushroom' on impact.
The Russians got around that with their 5.54mm round: it has a hollow nose cavity under the jacket. Looks like a solid, ball round, but the thin gilding collapses and it acts like a hollowpoint after impact.
Of course, doesn't the Geneva Convention also prohibit cutting off the heads of prisoners, as well as using film of prisoners being tortured and murdered for propaganda purposes?
The Convention also doesn't mention hollow points or mushrooming bullets. That is how we have interpreted the convention.
It's an interpretation of one line in Section II, Chapter I, Article 23:
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Besides the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially prohibited:--
To employ poison or poisoned arms;
To kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army;
To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down arms, or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion;
To declare that no quarter will be given;
To employ arms, projectiles, or material of a nature to cause superfluous injury;
To make improper use of a flag of truce, the national flag, or military ensigns and the enemy's uniform, as well as the distinctive badges of the Geneva Convention;
To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war.
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However, since that is how we have interpreted it for a very long time it would be very difficult to change that interpretation.