That's gonna leave a mark

OK, back to the original topic then. A quote from the original threadmaker:

My thought is this -- if some piece of filth strung out on a long list of illiegal pharmaceuticals comes at me to take my money or my property, I want to be able to defend myself, and there IS no overkill for bastards like this. The more punch they can put into one of these things the better. If a criminal in the midst of an illegal act dies, I feel very little pity for him. I voluntarily give plenty of money to legitimate charities to help the truly less fortunate, I'll be d***ed if I'm gonna give any more involuntarily.

Sadly, I don't know if these gadgets are even legal in Canada. They're probably not because the government cares more about criminal rights than victim rights.

 

si senor dmc!

 

Because there are plenty of lawyers out there who will waive their fee in favor of the publicity they know a high-profile case will get.

Back on topic: I have no interest in owning such a weapon, and I'm not terribly thrilled about the idea of them being made readily available to the public. Can you imagine what sort of other havoc might be caused if one of those things was used to give a jolt to any sort of centralized computer system? Sounds like something out of an action-adventure movie, and not in a good way.

 

On top of that Rally, I know so many little arsehole kids who I'd much rather not be able to go and buy one of these willy nilly! Maybe it's just this country, but there's plenty of bored lads who'd buy one of these and run around zapping people with it for a laugh.

 

i'm just waiting on some A@@#### to go to a dance club & start zapping people during a light show. you would never know until the lights came back up. especially since that littler bugger will fit in a pack of cigarettes. who checks your cigs when you go in the club?

@ barmy, at least here most of these i have seen are at gun stores for sell only to adults over 18, but kids have always found ways around those rules(heh, i know i did, when i wanted liquor at 16)

 

Should these tasers be banned? Some in Canada seem to think so. Too many criminals are being killed when the police Taser them. That's a real pity.

My question is, by the time the bleeding hearts are done, what the bloody **** are the police supposed to use to deal with a 240 pound man who is on a rampage? Polite words? Gentle persuasion? Offer more drugs? I mean, guns are not the answer, billy clubs are not the answer, pepper spray is not the answer, flash bang grenades are not the answer, and now Tasers are not the answer. What tools are we willing to give our police officers to deal with the scum of the earth?

My answer is give them all the tools humanly possible and be **** grateful that the cops are out there keeping slime off the streets. If a few people, in flagrant, blatant and unqualified violation of the law, end up dead, too bad. It's their fault for making stupid choices. If they had just obeyed the law, they'd be alive and kicking. Cruel? Vicious? You bet. I'm tired of mollycoddling criminals around here and tiptoeing around their rights. The police around here always give people the opportunity to smarten up and be cooperative. If they blow that chance, then I say Taser them as often as it takes to settle them down. If the crook is high on meth and dies, gee, whose fault is that? I can tell you right now it's not the cops and it's not the fault of the decent, non-addict citizen whose life the cop just saved by blasting the crook.

As some of you may have guessed, crime in my city has spiked and I, like a lot of people around here, am tired of hearing about the deaths and injuries inflicted on innocents by criminals.

 

LKD, I think the problem has more to do with suspects (who may or may not be criminals) being killed by a taser. Canada's had a pretty nasty case not too long ago, when some random foreign guy at the airport got tasered, then tasered again several times because he seemed "suspicious". It then turned out there was nothing criminal about him. Now the argument people generally have is that if the police had used guns the guy would have died anyway. Here's my problem with this argument: people (generally speaking; includes the police) are being much more trigger happy with tasers because they perceive them as being non-lethal. They're not. They're less likely to kill. However, shooting a taser at someone a dozen times in succession is pretty likely to kill (never mind heart conditions and other complications).

Barmy's also raised another potential problem. The neds wouldn't go around shooting a gun at people (well, most of them wouldn't), because they know they will be in trouble if they do. Using a taser though? no problem, it won't kill anyone, so they can have their "fun" and get away with something minor like breach of the peace. And if someone ends up actually dying because of the taser... what are they going to say? "Oops, we didn't mean to"?

 

@LKD

The people of Canada are arguing that the police force shouldn't be armed? IMO that is a completely separate issue to civilian gun ownership.

 

Gun ownership is another thread. Some people in Canada are saying the cops shouldn't have Tasers. I'll elaborate later.

 

The part i don't understand is if canada trains their police like the u.s. does, to get taser certified, you get ZAPPED.Now let me tell you, it hurts a LOT(you know how your calf hurts when it cramps up? well imagine that all over your body. not fun) Granted the pain goes away when the current is stopped but boy does it leave you with a respect for those 2 little wires

My point being, since they know how it feels, they should be less inclined to inflict it prematurely on others.