Taser Use Violates International Law- MPD Applauded

[struggle4progress]

By: Kenneth Wayne Yarbrough
Wed Feb 23, 2005 7:26 AM ET

MACON,GA.- <snip> However, medical reports show physical damage caused by Tasers includes bruises, fractures, ruptured disks, dislocations, joint injuries, spinal fractures, severe chest pains, rotator cuff injuries, arm and shoulder injuries as well as muscle and nerve injuries.

Furthermore, people suffering from osteoporosis, which afflicts 55 percent of all people over the age of 50, are susceptible to Taser-induced bone fractures.

The Taser is also suspected to have caused a woman who was 12 weeks pregnant to miscarriage.

Research shows Tasers in the US are deployed on non-violent offenders, such as those who are unarmed, already handcuffed, verbally abusive, engaged in passive resistance, or who refuse to follow police instruction. A statistical analysis of 2,690 field applications across the US, produced for Taser International in May 2003, showed that suspects were unarmed in 83 percent of the cases. <snip>

http://www.maconareaonline.com/news.asp?id=10022

[whistle]

1. From Taser International's own website you can now own one...

...of these weapons for $599.95 (Air Taser M18L) or the less costly version at $399.95 (Air Tasee M18). Here is how the company describes how these weapons work:

<snip>

The basic idea of the stun gun is to disrupt this communication system (nervous system) by delivering a high voltage (very fast) combined with a low amperage (low intensity) charge to temporarily disable an attacker for several minutes. The high voltage allows the charge to quickly pass through clothing and skin, but the low 3-milliamp amperage is not intense enough to damage the attacker's body (unless applied for an extended period of time). Therefore, unlike lightening with high amperage, the electricity from a stun gun is non lethal.

When you press the stun gun against an attacker and hold the trigger, the electricity stored in the stun gun is dumped into the assailant's nervous system and the normal body signals get mixed up with noise. The muscles and brain are no longer able to communicate because the messages are no longer understood. The result is temporary confusion and imbalance. Alternatively, stun guns can generate current with a pulse frequency that mimics the body's own electrical signals telling the attacker's muscles to do a great deal of work rapidly. But the work is not directed toward any particular movement. The rapid work cycle instantly depletes the attacker's blood sugar by converting it to lactic acid. The attacker is left unable to produce energy and too weak to move.

<more> http://www.beststungun.com/advanced-taser-m18.html

Now, imagine all of freaking America armed with these!

[struggle4progress]

2. Diabetics may be pleased to learn that the device ...

... "instantly depletes the attacker's blood sugar."

Or perhaps not ...

[whistle]

3. Well, that may be a way to avoid taking insulin shots, but I bet

...none of the sugar is converted to food energy, only lactic acid, which is what happens when the body begins to die if I'm not mistaken.

[struggle4progress]

4. I fear my sarcasm was unclear.

[whistle]

5. No, I was just palying on that sarcasm, tasers are very dangerous

...even in trained hands, but now the whole world can have one to play with it seems. Gun control anyone?