The TASER Police State
According to Ed, he was tasered multiple times during his arrest. I have no reason to doubt him. I'm wondering how often tasers are used in prisons.
Query: after the first death as a result of tasering by law enforcement, why were tasers not banned from use by law enforcement? There have been dozens of deaths, and yet tasering continues. The TASER (Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle) is a barbaric tool...and being completely misused by some Peace Officers.
It's important to remember that those people who died were innocent; in this country, one is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. At least, it used to be that way.
I've seen video clips of people being tasered while in handcuffs, or while two or three officers were holding a person on the ground. People have been tasered for not getting out of their vehicles, or not moving fast enough when an officer says "jump". This whole thing is out of hand. Police now routinely use the TASER in cases where they would not use a firearm or a baton.
The ethical questions involved are significant. Some folks claim that those who died did so because they were not healthy enough to survive the weapon...weak heart, etc. That's exactly why the thing should be banned. Others say it is preferable to lethal weapons (apparently they ignore the fact that about 200 people have died after being tasered); but in addition to it being barbaric, the problem with the TASER is that it is routinely being used in situations where an officer would NOT use a firearm or even a baton---and there appears to be much less accountability for misuse as compared to misuse of the baton or pistol.
No one should ever be tasered unless that person actually is attacking an officer or another person with deadly force. The militarized police need to take stock of their methods. Many of them appear to be treating every civilian as an "enemy combatant", not as an individual with unalienable rights. Who is providing oversight?
Next will be the tasering of folks involved in peaceful civil disobedience and not threatening officers in any way. That's when even the uninformed should know for certain that we now live in a Police State.
I'm hoping that people will complain to their local governments and protest the arming of Peace Officers with these barbaric weapons.
Query: after the first death as a result of tasering by law enforcement, why were tasers not banned from use by law enforcement? There have been dozens of deaths, and yet tasering continues. The TASER (Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle) is a barbaric tool...and being completely misused by some Peace Officers.
It's important to remember that those people who died were innocent; in this country, one is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. At least, it used to be that way.
I've seen video clips of people being tasered while in handcuffs, or while two or three officers were holding a person on the ground. People have been tasered for not getting out of their vehicles, or not moving fast enough when an officer says "jump". This whole thing is out of hand. Police now routinely use the TASER in cases where they would not use a firearm or a baton.
The ethical questions involved are significant. Some folks claim that those who died did so because they were not healthy enough to survive the weapon...weak heart, etc. That's exactly why the thing should be banned. Others say it is preferable to lethal weapons (apparently they ignore the fact that about 200 people have died after being tasered); but in addition to it being barbaric, the problem with the TASER is that it is routinely being used in situations where an officer would NOT use a firearm or even a baton---and there appears to be much less accountability for misuse as compared to misuse of the baton or pistol.
No one should ever be tasered unless that person actually is attacking an officer or another person with deadly force. The militarized police need to take stock of their methods. Many of them appear to be treating every civilian as an "enemy combatant", not as an individual with unalienable rights. Who is providing oversight?
Next will be the tasering of folks involved in peaceful civil disobedience and not threatening officers in any way. That's when even the uninformed should know for certain that we now live in a Police State.
I'm hoping that people will complain to their local governments and protest the arming of Peace Officers with these barbaric weapons.
Labels: Civil Disobedience, Ed Brown, TASER
posted by Scott Haley at
1:29 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks again Scott!
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