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by war321 926 days ago
The unfortunate truth of a lot of weapon bans is that they happen when civilian anger or fear outstrips military need, and are therefore less likely to be argued for. No army really argues for hollowpoints nowadays, because of their terrible penetration. When a "banned" weapon suddenly finds a use, countries will ignore regulations or were never privy to them in the first place. Such as Ukraine finding extensive use of cluster weapons to counter Russian assault infantry.

Chemical and biological weapons fit the first category, since they're almost useless in a military context since they're incredibly difficult to control or incubate, and end up being mostly terror weapons. It's why bans of them are far more complete, whereas nuclear disarmament is practically a nonstarter.

AI and especially AI weapons seem like the second category. Where many will call for a ban, but many will ignore it because they provide such an advantage to the workforce or on the battlefield.