Saturday, 19 April 2003
Set tasers to stun [slim]
The BBC reports that Police in England and Wales are to start carrying a controversial electronic stun gun that will knock out suspects. This, I suppose, is quite a step up from their current armament of a little telescopic stick, so its certainly newsworthy. What surprises me is the negativity towards this move, with organisations claiming they cause too much pain and are open to abuse. Well fuck me if I'd rather be tasered by mistake than fucking shot by mistake? Dur!
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Bloody madness isn't it. I bet the tables would be reversed if you charged these bleeding heart flower sniffing weenies with the task of cleaning up the streets of Manchester after dark.
ReplyDeleteLets face it. If you're gonna get tasered then Its highly likely you deserved it. If you dont want the pain then behave.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it's not like they're just gonna whip it out to shoot people. Besides, I'd rather get tasered than hit over the head with a truncheon to be honest. Because electric-shock pain just fades with no lasting injury, unlike a cracked skull!
ReplyDeletePlus, If your drunk you wont remember it in the morning ;)
ReplyDeleteI guess the range of em must be shite though? And it's one use only, once you've fired it (and miss) you're effectively unarmed. Although at £20 a pop, I guess they can carry a couple?
ReplyDeleteThe range on them is pretty stinky yeah. Though if you're going from not needing anything like this - having one would be enough I guess. I should think they're rather more useful for getting someone trying to run away than an potential assault on a police officer?
ReplyDeleteI think people don't like the idea because it seems like we are copying the yanks and it's barbaric - you are shooting two metal darts attached to 15ft of wire.
ReplyDeleteImagine getting one to them babies in your eyeball.
You still can't beat a baton :) or even better a policeman on a policehorse charging at you with trunction flailing. Tazers = yank wank.
Buy one hereCock knockers.. Link duffedLink better now
Seems fine to me - people are happy to demonstrate them on camera/to audiences so they can't be that painful, and they must be fairly sure about them not having long lasting effects.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, if you're cleaning up Manchester streets after dark and you come across some guy dosed up on PCP who wants to eat your brains, I don't think it's likely to stop him.
Actually that's one of the reasons the yank forces got so keen on tasers. Your brain can be in whatever state you like, an electrical shock is a psysiological effect that's hard to beat. It will put you on the floor and stun you for a bit, there's no two ways about that.And it seems really bizarre to kick off on an Anti-American mission concerning Tasers. Sure, they developed them but that's because they had a need for non-lethal police enforcement methods and let's face it, they're *way* ahead of the curve than us when it comes to crime and by extension to some measure, law enforcement.
ReplyDeleteThe only person whose opinion I'm particularly interested in concerning the use of tasers in this country is our own coppers. They think they need them, I'll back them to the hilt and that's pretty much how it looks to me at the moment.
Interesting, I've seen a demo vid on TV and a different one online - in both cases the effects didn't seem to debilitating. The TV clip one had the guy stay standing (though a couple of guys grabbed his arms to steady him) and the online version he didn't really flinch. I believe it depends a little on where you are hit, but then I don't think our officers will have much control over that.
ReplyDeleteWell, setting the actual yield of these tasers is just an electronic thing. I don't know who decides what level they are or anything about that aspect of it but how weak/strong they are is entirely dependant on their yield. I find it extrodinary that they would be weakened to that point you descibe. But when we're talking debilitating here, it's only to put you on the ground and stun you for a time. An effect I've experienced myself a few times in an electronic workshop with a decent belt of mains voltage (although that's a lot more dangerous than these devices) :)
ReplyDeleteYou get 50,000V at low current, your muscles contract, you fall over. Et voila monsieur psycho avec le samurai sword. It's a taser, not a Star Trek phaser!
ReplyDeleteWell muscles contracting is localised. It's the shock and pain that makes you fall over and remain stunned. If you don't know what it's like, shove your finger in an AC socket and you'll see exactly what I mean :)
ReplyDelete