To increase their bottom-line, Taser International is now offering these devices to the general public, and because they have been classified as “safe”,they are being allowed to sell what is sometimes a lethal weapon to the general public. LINK Imagine yourself operating a business, going to your car with the nightly deposit, and suddenly, from a distance, being “Tased” and find yourself writhing on the ground in pain while a thief runs off with your deposit, purse, or anything else they choose to steal. It’s bad enough that we have to fear how the police use these devices, but to know they could easily wind-up in the hands of criminals is so shocking to the conscious that I find it hard to believe. Criminals that are inclined to robbery and strong-arm theft will have a silent method of rendering a victim helpless without anything more than a muffled scream - and IMO, this is a device that should not be released to the general public.
In summation, imagine that you are an individual such as I with multiple health problems, and you see an officer drawing a Taser. You know the effects could be lethal, and if you attempt to run, it’s can be classified as “felony evading the police” or “resisting arrest.” It seems that there should be a way that the public can protect themselves from being “tased”, however at this point, there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop the use of a device that is nothing more than an advanced “cattle prod”, and in this author’s opinion, treating those whom they are supposed to “protect and serve” like a common animal is demeaning, unconstitutional, and if we make it through the Bush administration with our Constitution and liberty intact, this is an issue that needs to be raised on local, state, and federal levels. No matter how you parse the argument, being hit with 50,000 Volts is “cruel and unusual punishment”, and the Taser is a device that can be used to torture, maim, and kill its victims, and for the general health and welfare of the public, Congress needs to step-in and make the discharge of a Taser at least as serious as when an officer discharges his/her firearm - or in the alternative, ban these devices completely.
People all over the United States are expressing opinions that we are rapidly turning into a “police state”, and I have to agree. Below is the definition of a “police state” by Wikipedia. Read it, and as you do, perhaps you will understand the necessity of removing Tasers from the police arsenal and expecting our police officers to behave in a civilized manner, which is the general public’s expectation and constitutional right(s). At any rate, the fallacy that Tasers are safe is incorrect, the deaths are mounting, and if we intend on keeping our dignity and respect as a nation, our police forces need to take a look in the mirror and decide if they are there to serve the public, or act in a manner that is turning public opinion against the police in many communities throughout this country - and that in itself is a sad state of affairs. We need the police, they are part of any civilized society, and I look forward to the day when some of our police departments return to their roots and their appearance is one that invokes trust and respect. When you look in your rear-view mirror and see what looks like a “Nazi Storm Trooper” approaching your vehicle, or even your home, that stereo-type will always invoke fear and distrust; hopefully, once Bush is gone, sanity will return to our nation and we can begin to operate again as a free and democratic society - one that doesn’t require our police officers to “militarize” themselves and intimidate those who rely upon them for their safety and well-being.
Classification of a police state
The classification of a country or regime as a police state is usually contested and debated. Because of the pejorative connotation of the term, it is rare that a country will identify itself as a police state. The classification is often established by an internal whistleblower or an external critic or activist group. The use of the term is motivated as a response to the laws, policies and actions of that regime, and is often used pejoratively to describe the regime’s concept of the social contract, human rights, and similar matters.
Genuine police states are fundamentally authoritarian, and are often dictatorships. However the degree of government repression varies widely among societies. Most regimes fall into some middle ground between the extremes of pure civil libertarianism and pure policestatism. LINK
William Cormier
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