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-Short Attention Span Theater-
ACLU having cow over proposed "Pain Ray" in LA prisons
2010-08-28
Out of work? No morals? Have a law degree? Think everybody lacks common sense just like you? Why not work for the ACLU?!

Seems to me to be a case of if gasoline were invented today, it would be outlawed!

It's called an "option". You can use it or not depending on which scenario would pose a lesser risk. If you see a group attacking another with shanks, go ahead and use it because you need to diffuse the situation now, not a minute from now after all the necessary guards can be assembled. The attackee will thank you for it even if he gets zapped. It's way less lethal than a shank.

Or maybe you'd rather they just die. Which in many hardcore cases would probably be better for society anyway.
Posted by:gorb

#11  Actually, Great Britain had a nice system : send excess troublemakers to America or Australia, and let them make a profitable colony. That is until the wealthy descendants of the exiled decided that they could do better on their own.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2010-08-28 23:24  

#10  Just don't tase me, bro!

Posted by: Mizzou Mafia   2010-08-28 14:30  

#9  P2K,

I agree but recall that the punishment generally did not include incarceration. That was only used to assure the presence of the suspect when the circuit riders finally arrived. Though judges might assign many types of punishment for non-capital felonies, they frequently included branding so that others in the future would be able to read the criminal's rap sheet on their forehead. The state could not afford to house convicts, so incarceration was rarely used as a punishment until communities grew wealthier.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2010-08-28 13:20  

#8  Though I hate admitting it, this time, I have to agree with the ACLU. Raytheon has been trying to flog downsized versions of this thing all over the place, and the potential for abuse makes me cringe.

To start with, this is not an individual offender weapon, it is an area denial weapon. So though it will be sold to break up public riots, in use it is far more likely to bust up public protests.

A disturbing trend among police at events like G-8 meetings, is that the police are told to do "whatever is necessary" to bust up protests, knowing full well that the municipality will be sued, lose, and have to pay some sum to those who were abused.

This is disturbing because they don't care, as long as the protest is broken up *now*, with a "police riot". It's just taxpayer money in the settlement anyway, so no harm done. This is all kinds of wrongness.

A weapon like this mounted on a vehicle is the easiest way imaginable to institute martial law in a city. Just order all citizens to remain indoors, and fry anyone seen on the street. It could even be used during a house to house search for whatever, to prevent resistance.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2010-08-28 12:58  

#7  Oooh, bad timing ACLU...

Seven inmates were hospitalized Friday after a riot at California's Folsom State Prison where guards were forced to fire five live rounds.

More than 200 inmates began rioting in the prison's main exercise yard about 7:00pm local time. The riot was contained within half an hour, authorities said, with 30 to 35 guards involved.

Guards fired 20 non-lethal rounds in quelling the riot, as well as five live rounds. Seven inmates, with non life-threatening injuries, were taken by ambulance to Sacramento-area hospitals.
Posted by: tu3031   2010-08-28 12:51  

#6  They should tell the complainers "Fine." Then take away all the clubs, pepper sprays, tasers, and other items used in an attempt to not hurt the inmates.

Next time one of them is rowdy, repeatedly fire 00 or #4 12 gauge shotgun shells at the inmate until he is lying in compliance on the cell floor and no longer resisting.

I think you will find it will take very few applications to bring discipline and order to the entire prison this way.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2010-08-28 12:35  

#5  This is the result of not teaching real history in schools. Back at the start of the republic, felons didn't vote because felons swung. There were no prisons. You did what the community considered a capital crime, you died. Certainly husbanded resources.

Then the 'humanitarian' community pressed to reduce the punishment for certain crimes and gave us the alternative of extended incarceration. Thus began the long process of making punishment no longer punishment.

Maybe its time to go back to basics.

Meanwhile we will continue to carry on cleaning up the executions in our streets, neighborhoods, communities, along with the resultant mayhem of assaults, rapes, and looting.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2010-08-28 08:07  

#4  
Posted by: Goodluck   2010-08-28 06:30  

#3  The blue suited UN observers are quite apropros.
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-08-28 05:57  

#2  Just wait until the install of the agony booth:

Posted by: Mizzou Mafia   2010-08-28 05:49  

#1  Moooo!
Posted by: 49 Pan   2010-08-28 01:28  

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