china demonstrated an electromagnetic gun that fires projectiles shaped like coins a weapon state media said could be used to break up violent public disturbancesthe cslw21 gun was featured in a military technology show broadcast by staterun china central television last month the south china morning post reported on the development earliermanufactured by china north industries group corp the weapon is intended to reduce the chances that people are killed when riots are quelled much like when authorities use guns firing rubber bulletssimilar weapons have been made in other countries before the device is based on coilgun technology which uses electromagnets to launch a projectile china has reportedly tested similar tech to fire a projectile from a warshipelectromagnetic weapons allow the user to set the intensity and frequency that the gun fires which can reduce the danger they pose to people still the devices have the potential to cause serious injury the video on chinese state media showed the coin projectiles shredding thin plywood china experienced its most widespread protests in decades in late 2022 as people became fed up with harsh rules such as snap lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus those demonstrations were largely peaceful