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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?"
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.