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# PSNI Over 10X More Likely To Draw Guns, Tasers And Plastic Bullets On Black People
- URL: https://aontachtmedia.ie/psni-over-10x-more-likely-to-draw-guns-tasers-and-plastic-bullets-on-black-people/
- Published: 2026-09-08T23:10:29.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-08T23:10:29.000Z
- Description: Black people in the Occupied Six Counties are 11 times more likely to have a gun drawn on them, and 15 times more likely to have tasers pointed at them than White people, according to PSNI statistics.
- Author: Daithí de Bhulbh
- Tags: News

Black people in the Occupied Six Counties are [11 times more likely](https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/psni-more-likely-to-target-black-people-with-guns-tasers-and-plastic-bullets-PU3CP6NLO5BQJDFCMSDECMSYRM/?ref=aontachtmedia.ie) to have a gun drawn on them, and 15 times more likely to have tasers pointed at them than White people, according to PSNI statistics.

Despite making up less than 1% of the population in the north, PSNI members were 12 times more likely to threaten Black people with weapons that fire plastic bullets – weapons still routinely used despite their deadly history in the hands of occupation police.

The figures come as further evidence of discriminatory, colonial policing tactics by security forces in the north of Ireland which disproportionately target certain communities.

It follows revelations [earlier this week](https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/black-people-almost-4-times-more-likely-to-be-searched-by-psni-despite-9-in-10-facing-no-arrest-QAX5C2MMZNEBXDJERFAU5F47P4/?ref=aontachtmedia.ie) that Black people are being stopped and searched by the PSNI at nearly four times the rate of White people, despite almost nine in 10 of those searches ending without an arrest.

According to Irish News, searches of Black people rose by 37 percent between 2024/25 and 2025/26, the same year that the PSNI launched its Race and Ethnicity Action Plan. 

Amidst the backdrop of racist pogroms in Loyalist areas during the summer, the statistics call into question the ability, and willingness, of the PSNI to protect minority communities in the Occupied Six Counties.

Seventeen people have been killed by plastic and rubber bullets fired by British security forces since 1972, eight of them children, with many more permanently injured.

This week's statistics revealed that rubber bullets were pointed by PSNI members 82 times between April 2025 and March 2026, continuing the violent legacy of the RUC despite a supposed rebrand.

Plastic bullets are not used by police for riot control in England, Scotland and Wales, but continue to be used routinely in the Occupied Six Counties of Ireland.

Black people are not the only group disproportionately policed in the north – Catholics are also 2.5x [more likely to be targeted](https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/catholics-more-likely-to-be-targeted-in-psni-stop-and-search-operations-2BRZGLOZQVF7DMGHWY3XHM3PLQ/?ref=aontachtmedia.ie) in stop and search operations.

The PSNI was formed in 2001 out of a rebrand of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, inheriting its personnel, structures, and role in enforcing British law in Occupied Ireland.

The RUC enforced internment without trial, presided over the jury-free Diplock courts, and was repeatedly implicated in collusion with loyalist paramilitaries in the murders of Catholics, most notoriously solicitor Pat Finucane.