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UN Says Tasers Are a Form of Torture
The use of Tasers "causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture," the UN's Committee Against Torture said. "In certain cases, they can even cause death, as has been shown by reliable studies and recent real-life events." Three men — all in their early 20s — died from after tasering in the United States this week, days after a Polish man died at Vancouver airport after being tasered by Canadian police. There have been 17 deaths in Canada following the use of Tasers since they were approved for use, and 275 deaths in the US. "According to Amnesty International, coroners have listed the Taser jolt as a contributing factor in more than 30 of those deaths."
How many police officers and civilian lives were saved due to their use? How many criminals are still alive today because a taser was used instead of a gun?
Don't break the law and you won't risk your life to a taser. I fail to see how something that is painful and has a non-zero chance of death is automatically torture and should be outlawed. By that measure we should outlaw the average daily commute.
Nobody ever claimed that not-firearm police arms aren't able to kill people. This is used as "less lethal", meaning, probably less likely to kill the bad guy if the situation warrants it. Sometimes, yeah, they're gonna die anyway. But, if this less-lethal option didn't exist, they'd get shot with a chunk of lead at about 1000 feet per second. So, you know what? You're damn lucky the cops have less-lethal weapons as an option (lead beanbags, tasers, paintball pepper spray, etc etc etc), rather than just "do I shoot this guy or not". Sometimes they die. (shrug) so, don't be a criminal and you don't have to worry about it. But, point remains that 10 years ago, you would've been shot with a gun instead of 10K volts for a few seconds.
If you don't wanna be tazered by the cops, um, let's see, how can you avoid it? Maybe, not be a problem when the cops show up? Just an idea.
tasers are not "a replacement for guns", they are there so that police don't HAVE to use them in some situations. Guns were never going to be replaced by tasers, and no one in any police force is going to make that claim, since guns provide the lethal force and ultimately provide the deterrent that keeps our society safe.
And you people keep claiming tasers are used more often then guns. WELL NO SHIT SHERLOCK, obviously if you have a choice between lethal and non lethal, non lethal is going to be chosen in all but the most extreme situations. What you need to prove is wide spread abuse, citing a couple of unfortunate events in all the years tasers have been used is not a convincing argument.
I would say all of you need to take a ride in a hard suburb where cops risk theirs lives every day, and maybe we might less retarded cop hate on the internet.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
Mod me troll, too, but the two previous posters were correct. The U.N. has always gone out of its way to bash the United States. Tasers torture? According to the U.N. everything is torture. What a feckless, useless, corrupt bunch of weasels.
Utah cop tasers a guy without provocation and then lies about it.
Robert Dziekanski died in Vancouver after senseless tasering by four cops. The Vancouver police department later lied about what happened.
To me it looks like the pigs are using the tasers not as less-lethal instruments to be used against dangerous suspects instead of guns, but as whips are used to herd the cattle by a bunch of cowboys (or jackals, that's what it looked like in case of Dziekanski.)
We are the cattle, and the pigs are the cowboys herding us. We are not human to them.
I always saw cops as the force used by those in power to control the masses and not for public protection, now it is only more apparent.
You can't handle the truth.
Let's see who some of the members of this committee are who are telling the world about what's torture:
Egypt
Senegal
China
Cyprus
I guess these countries don't engage in any torture
don't you comprehend the difference between replacing guns and using tasers instead of guns in some situations? because that's what i posted above, learn to fucking read.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
because i've watched 100's of cop hater video posted on youtube and i'm yet to see one where the person got tased for no reason.
the most common reason is failing to compile with a lawful order. it must be something about the current generation where they think the police have no authority, which forces the police to FORCE them to compile in order to control the situation and maintain authority. this ultimate protects us as a community wether you like it or not.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
so what your saying is instead of the easy way out of hostile situations, we should take the hard and long way out and let the situation drag on... fuck i'm glad you aren't a cop.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
You're right, I was wrong. The electric chair is too much like torture. May I suggest hanging instead?
There is no consideration here for the cop who gets shot in the face by someone pulled over for speeding or without tags on their car. No consideration at all for the cop who repeatedly orders someone to stop and drop, or move back, only to have that person kill the cop with their own weapon. These things rarely are reported with the emphasis placed on the stories of the supposed innocent victim.
Sure their will be a few instances of someone otherwise incapacitated who cant follow a cops orders, but that is so rare it isnt even worth mentioning.
The fact remains that anyone who does not follow a lawful order who CAN follow that order, and chooses not to, is NOT innocent, and is partially responsible for whatever happens next.
You see, this is the new "question authority" crowd looking for their 21st century street cred. The villains are the victims, and no one is responsible for their own behavior. Kimberly Tunahill, a San Diego cop and high-school friend of mine was shot through the neck and killed walking up to a vehicle. No, she would not have been saved by a taser, but I dare say that if it were between a young law inforement officer and a street thug afraid of being sent BACK to prison, I say tase the bastard till he smokes. Shit happens.
At the rate things are going, someday, someone will say that law enforcement of any kind is a form of torture. I'm an old geek who often wishes we could just go back a few years to when we didnt always blame those sworn to protect us for doing their goddamn jobs.
Mod parent the fuck up. Fuck you if you can't face reality, people: The fact remains that the countries in power are the ones making the rules.
"Acute pain" constitutes a form of torture?
So, does this mean that the girl who pinched me in the 2nd grade (and I have several witnesses) can be brought before the Hague Tribunal and charged with torture?
How about the "mathematically masochistic" math teachers whose endless sermons gave me brain-wrenching migranes?
How about the next baseball pitcher who accidentally nails a batter with a fastball? Is EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO CAUSES the sensation of pain in another individual now a TORTURER? Interestingly enough, the UN also considers pepper spray and Mace (50% CS + 50% CN) to be illegal chemical weapons, even if used by civilians.
Would the UN like it better if we just shot criminals as a means of obtaining compliance whenever they are violent towards law-abiding citizens?
How can such "noble" organizations throw away the rights of law-abiding citizens, especially in terms of self defense, and support the rights of the criminals over the rights of those actually respecting the rule of law?
The UN is just like California: The criminals are better off that law-abiding citizens.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
They know how to deal with the same problems the US cops deal with, but by talking and using their heads instead of escalating the violence by attacking first.
Trust me, those UK cops wouldn't last ten seconds on the South Side of Chicago. I don't have a beef with cops going around armed, as long as they're trained in the use of those weapons, have to account for the use of their weapons, and suffer the consequences of any abuse they mete out.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
"... and you can't ask armed policemen with 20lbs of gear to go hand to hand 1 on 1 with every idiot that is resisting arrest. "
that's exactly what I want them to do. We got in this mess by letting 90lb blondes become police officers. Her only option is to tase or shoot you
Many unpleasant things are not torture.
The United Nations is unpleasant. Does the UN's existence constitute torture?
Whaa?? This is Slashdot — the cops are always wrong. No matter how the cops subdue a violent criminal attacking them, the moonbats here will find fault. The correct thing for the cops to do is let the perps continue their rampages with impunity and hope nobody videotapes them with discourteous expressions on their faces.