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Are Tasers good tools for police or deadly force?
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1. The headline sets up a false dichotomy. A tool is merely something useful; deadliness doesn't disqualify something as a good tool. Guns are good tools for police and hunters--and also deadly. Knives, too. Looking at it in that context, I'd have to say Tasers are good tools for police. The question is not whether they're good tools, it's how they should be used. Personally, I think sometimes they're used too much; though not necessarily deadly, they are weapons and can be dangerous. They're tools of necessity, not mere convenience.
2. If Taser is actually an acronym, then nobody should be using the word "tase." As an acronym, it can't be broken down into "tase" as the action and "taser" as the thing that performs it, because it's not a normal word. The thing is a *Taser* (probably should be capitalized, TASER), and if it's used on you, then you've been *Tasered*. Sort of like if you get hit with a laser beam, you don't get lased, you get lasered (laser is actually an acronym too, by the way; just don't ask me what it stands for). Probably doesn't matter to anybody except me...but there it is anyway.
They have caused too many unneeded deaths in petty traffic and every day offenses nation wise.
Plus most local police officers will take this taser short cut and not take that other extra step verbal or physical wise !............
I'll bet his family, who condemns the lethal actions of the guard as being premature and unnecessary, would have preferred the same.
The first comment by “Ing” is excellent.
And this doesn't count the trauma, injuries and damage they cause to others. And we still let them have their driver license. A car is a "tool" as well, and yet we apparently prefer to be more concerned with faulty research, skewed statistics and an indifferent (at best) attitude of "if the police want it, it must be bad" from a vocal minority.
Go ahead, take the TASER away. But I don't want to hear a single one of you start to whine when there are more incidents of officer-involved shootings.
I have been shocked and while it hurts, there have been no lasting reprecussions whatsoever.
Until you have been on either end, try and give the deputies and officers the benefit of the doubt. They work hard so you can sleep well at night.
Maybe they should also study the effects of being hit in the chest or back with a bullet from a 9 mm calibre handgun, and compare the mortality rate.
The fact is, this is an intermediate weapon to use before the handgun. If it didn't exist, the handgun would be used, and personally (without doing the research) I believe many more people would die from the handgun.
Before everyone judges the cops for doing their jobs, maybe they should find out what kind of intimidating situations our police force is put under...
There is no way to know if someone is a threat. The only guideline is their action. Massey was a jerk who disobeyed a direct order from a police officer. He earned the tazeing by his actions.
By the way, the law does state that a speeder IS required to sign a ticket.
As Mark Twain said, "Get your facts straight before you try to distort them."
LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission from Radiation ;)