Mini-Cannon Stone Thrower (MCS)

In 2006, comedian and campaigner Mark Thomas, Irish NGO Afri, Sr. Barbara Raftery and students from Scoil Chriost Ri Portlaoise, along with a school in the UK, collaborated in developing a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary to highlight the inconsistencies, loopholes and legal omissions that enable virtually anyone, anywhere to broker and purchase ‘illegal’ arms.

The students involved in the After School Arms Club set up a dummy arms-brokering company, made contact with arms dealers, arranged arms deals over by phone and online and purchased weapons of torture.

Mini Canon Stone Thrower

“We would like to let you know that in order to pass customs and security checks without delay we will write that the product is for agricultural use.” (Rafi Peled of RD Peled)

The mini cannon stone (MCS) thrower created by arms manufacturer RD Peled (“a manufacturer of riot and crowd control equipment for military and law enforcement applications”) in his kitchen in Israel hurls approximately 600 stones a minute and can cover a distance of 100 metres.

The young people engaged in the After-School arms project sourced the stone thrower from Israel and imported it into Ireland to demonstrate the ease of importing machinery for illegal use.

The project was filmed and aired on Channel 4 and had a positive impact on exposing loopholes in Ireland and in an investigation into the operations of RD Peled.

For more, read the blog written by one of the teachers involved, Barbara Raftery.

Source: After School Arms Club participant students and teachers; Channel 4; Afri; Mark Thomas

Year: 2006

Courtesy of Joe Murray and Afri