When those rocks are thrown by slings, they can kill or seriously injure, returning fire oftentimes is warranted. I tried to solve this by giving the gunner of my Humvee a slingshot, and a handful of rocks just in case someone got too close to the Humvee and didn’t heed out commands, or a kid started pelting us to return like fire, but the end result was him targeting moving minivans while we were stationary, so I had to Yank it from him.
Rock slings are bona fide military weapons, can take down Goliath. Romans made expert, long term use of them. It isn’t something to be underestimated, just because someone else has a weapon. Families encourage their kids to do this, thinking they would be immune from response. Family is twisted and responsible for these actions. No difference between this and guys making their wives steal for them, then let their wives get jailed while acting the victim. Feminists don’t stand for that, anymore than I do with lethal sling throwing.