Reply #11: Use and misuse

[droidamus2]

I understand the original idea of tasers as an alternate to deadly force and that use is a reasonable approach. The problem I have is with the misuse or possible misuse of these technologies. We hear way too many stories of people being tased for basically just not obeying an officer fast enough, or pissing off an officer or the officer just being in a bad mood. Also consider that these technologies, along with many others such as heat and sound oriented crowd control, have a very scary possibility of being used against citizens simply using their right to freedom of speech. The government through the years (Chicago, 1968) has not hesitated to use and force at their fingertips to limit the peoples ability to express disagreement with the sitting government. Can we be assured that these new technologies won't be used for that purpose? I don't think so. Strong controls should be put on their distribution and valid use and even stronger penalties should be put on the misuse of those same technologies.