Revisiting DIY HERF Guns

An anonymous reader writes "HERF guns have previously been regarded as nothing more than an interesting project with uses ranging from at-home experiments to malicious pranks. But the deployment of 'morally gray' forms of high-tech crowd control, such as the recent use of a sound cannon against domestic protesters, along with the likely future unleashing of the pain gun on more than just 'foreign terrorists,' creates a new purpose for these relatively easily assembled devices. Could HERF guns become a new method to counter the silencing of protesters via these sophisticated attacks, or is there any other way to prevent such efficient, convenient crowd dispersal?"

Comments

Re:is there any other way to prevent crowd dispers

[tftp]

The idea is, basically, that you vote your friends into your parliament and they pass laws that forbid hi-tech crowd control.

This will work only in a parliamentary democracy, with fair elections and multiple parties. This will not work in today's USA because of the one-party (some say two-party) rule. Your voting choices would be limited to two evils, and it's hard to tell which is a lesser one. A third party, even if allowed onto the ballot, will not be elected.

It is also hard to get enough support for small issues. If Alice proposes to stop the war and Bob promises to permit demonstrations who do you think will win? Once elected, US politicians have only one concern - how to get reelected. Usually that requires working with important people and companies, often against interests of their constituents.

Re:is there any other way to prevent crowd dispers

[j1mmy]

voting hasn't changed a single thing in the US in the last 200 years

Re:From the last Slashdot article and FYI:

[TheCRAIGGERS]

Not to entirely justify it, but sometimes a person will pull into the left lane and either maintain the same speed as the right lane (two-lane scenario, for simplification), or so minimally faster that it will take several miles before they pass the car on their right.

I'd just like to point out that the speed limit is just that. Emphasis on LIMIT. It's not the speed at which you should be driving. It's not even the speed that you're entitled to drive. Technically, the only time you have to maintain a speed higher than 1 is when you're on a freeway, but you still usually have a good 20mph or so range of speed between the max and min.

I'm tired of people that feel they're entitled to drive 10mph over the limit and are willing to tailgate me while serving back and forth trying to get around me.

So, to put it another way, the person ahead of you driving 5mph under the speed limit is perfectly in their right to do so. Deal with it and drive like a mature human being by keeping your distance.

Re:From the last Slashdot article and FYI:

[GameboyRMH]

On this note, I should point out that newer cars with ABS, and possibly also EBD, will outbrake any older car with plain-jane "dumb" brakes. Even a very good driver just can't know the exact speed of each wheel and readjust their braking 50-200 times per second, never mind adjust braking power on a per-wheel basis. People use the incredible stopping power of late-model cars to stop suddenly and talk to their friends on the side of the road, putting drivers of older cars at risk - I nearly got in a huge accident that way (and my car can stop VERY quickly for one with "dumb" brakes - I know how to use them), but luckily the oncoming lane was empty and I managed to slide around the offending asshole. I wasn't following too close but the sudden stop was totally unexpected and it caught me off guard. I'm more experienced now and know what to expect of the stupid assholes I'm forced to share the road with.