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Incapacitating Chemical Agents: Coming Soon To Local Law Enforcement?

Lasrick writes To this day, Russian authorities refuse to disclose the incapacitating chemical agent (ICA) they employed in their attempt, 12 years ago, to save 900 hostages held in a theater by Chechen fighters. Malcom Dando elaborates on a new report (PDF) that Russia, China, Israel, and a slew of other countries are continuing research into ICAs, and the apparent indifference of the international community into such research. Proponents of ICAs have long promoted their use in a variety of scenarios, including that of law enforcement, because in theory these chemicals incapacitate without permanent disability. Critics, however, point out that these weapons rely on exact dosage to prevent fatality, and that the ability to 'deliver the right agent to the right people in the right dose without exposing the wrong people, or delivering the wrong dose' is a near-impossible expectation. ICAs represent the further misuse and militarization of the life sciences and a weakening of the taboo against the weaponization of toxic substances, and the idea that they could be used in law enforcement situations is a disturbing one."

152 comments

  1. Fentanyl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Isn't it common knowledge that the chemical they used was Fentanyl? A very powerful synthetic opiate. And isn't it also well known that a significant percentage of the hostages died as a result?

    So much for 'incapacitate without permanent disability.' Another overkill weapon in the untrained hands of local law enforcement. Yay.

    1. Re:Fentanyl by j35ter · · Score: 1

      Well, the Russian government was not forced to pay any reimbursements for the survivors, as there were no physical disabilities as the result of using the agent on them.

      TL;DR, dead people don't count as disabilities

      --
      Delta-Mike November Bravo Tango
    2. Re:Fentanyl by qbast · · Score: 3, Informative

      117 hostages died, nearly all of them because of gas poisoning: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/eur... . So, next time people start protesting, similar gas might be used to 'control' them. Doesn't it make you feel safer?

    3. Re:Fentanyl by Chatterton · · Score: 0

      And wait for them to use that like some officer with its pepper spray against peaceful protesters, or some other officer tasing a student during a forum in an university for asking too much questions to a senator... Double yay.

    4. Re:Fentanyl by stephanruby · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Well, the Russian government was not forced to pay any reimbursements for the survivors, as there were no physical disabilities as the result of using the agent on them.

      dead people don't count as disabilities

      To be fair, Putin might have changed that in 2013.

      Now in Russia, the immediate families of terrorists are financially liable for the damages their family members caused. It's just too bad we don't have a law like that in the US, or the Bin Laden family would have had Osama Bin Laden killed, or imprisoned, as a financial precaution for preserving its billions of dollars.

    5. Re:Fentanyl by Kkloe · · Score: 1, Insightful

      with this law, if your third cousin that you have never met, doesnt even live in the same country, does some kind of shit then you wouldt mind paying for that?

    6. Re:Fentanyl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's just too bad we don't have a law like that in the US, or the Bin Laden family would have had Osama Bin Laden killed, or imprisoned, as a financial precaution for preserving its billions of dollars.

      Ah, hereditary guilt. It is practiced in North Korea.

      Well, some people still argue like that when they blame currently living Germans for things done by a previous generation. Then again, the same reasoning is used to argue for the extermination of all Jews since they are responsible for killing Jesus. (Never mind that Jesus was a Jew.)

      Hereditary guilt is a barbaric custom and regarding Osama, CIA had more to do with him going nuts when they gave him terrorist training, helped him built up al-Qaida and used him against the Russians during the cold war. You can't blame the Bin Laden family for him being angry at the US for using him against the Russians and then not backing him up when the Russians hit back.

    7. Re:Fentanyl by marsu_k · · Score: 1

      I thought so too. Nasty stuff, that - here in .fi, heroine is really quite rare. Opioid addicts usually use various synthetic opiates, and it seems almost without exception overdose deaths are caused by Fentanyl.

    8. Re:Fentanyl by benjfowler · · Score: 1

      It was a tough call. They had to use a high enough dose to make sure the women wired to the claymores would be knocked out sufficiently fast that they didn't time to set off their explosives.

      Incredibly gutsy call to make. I'd hate to face the families of the innocents who died from gas poisoning.

    9. Re:Fentanyl by N1AK · · Score: 1

      It's just too bad we don't have a law like that in the US

      Because you like it when the US goes full retard? Punishing people for the actions of their family members is stupid when Israel does it and it'd be equally stupid if America did it. There's no rational reason to restrict it to just terrorism offences, the only reason it would be is because people are completely irrational when it comes to terrorism.

    10. Re:Fentanyl by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

      Yes, it was fentanyl. It kills by stopping the automatic breathing pattern. Victims suffocate.

      My wife is on a low dose of it for her back pain. She used to be on a much higher dosage, and on bad days, I didn't sleep at night. I had to stay awake to shake her every few minutes to get her breathing again. But it did make the pain go away.

      --
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    11. Re:Fentanyl by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 1

      In Putin's Russia, the survivors PAY Putin!

    12. Re:Fentanyl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that brings up another issue; your wife, and every pain patient and junkie in the world, would take a much higher dose of it to be knocked out. So they are just praying one of the criminal hostage takers hasn't also been criminal enough to be taking heroin. Many addicts and patients go into withdrawal if all they take is a dose above the LD50 for non-tolerant users.

      And just to be pedantic, it could not have been fentanyl. Fentanyl is not near potent enough believe it or not. More likely it was carfentanil, sufentanil, or one of the other analogs that is hundreds to thousands times stronger than regular fentanyl.

    13. Re:Fentanyl by mrbester · · Score: 1

      That's because you have a soul.

      --
      "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
    14. Re:Fentanyl by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

      Yes, insisting on using the exact derivative of fentanyl is being over pedantic.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    15. Re:Fentanyl by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      There's no rational reason to restrict it to just terrorism offences

      And that right there is another argument against holding relatives accountable for the actions their family members take. Let's say today it is only applied to terrorism. A couple years down the road, someone shoots up a bunch of people and kills himself. There's a big push for his family to be held accountable (perhaps they are part of an unfavorably viewed minority) and they are. The next crime is less heinous but now there's a precedent of using this for less and less severe crimes. Eventually, any crime committed by one person can get their entire family in trouble if the prosecutor decides to apply it. (In other words, if the person isn't part of the "popular majority.")

      If anything thinks a "make the families accountable law" would only ever be applied to acts of terrorism, they obviously haven't been paying attention for the last thirty or so years.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    16. Re:Fentanyl by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      Third cousins cannot be argued to be "immediate family".

    17. Re:Fentanyl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes it was Fentanyl, those who died died due to respiratory failure or falling damage, read old, ill and unlucky. Overall it was a righteous op.

    18. Re:Fentanyl by gweihir · · Score: 1

      That is contrary to fundamental legal principles.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    19. Re:Fentanyl by gweihir · · Score: 1

      The 3rd Reich was also doing this excessively. That is why the German Constitution has a specific, non-changeable, provision against it.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    20. Re:Fentanyl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes it was aerosolized fentanyl.

      Mossad also used this unsuccessfully to off someone; they were caught and had to provide naloxone.

      Powerful shit, administered with skin patches.

    21. Re:Fentanyl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fentanyl, tolerance to opiates varies greatly from person to person. So one person my back knocked on the floor dead, the guy next to him could be high as shit having a good time.

    22. Re:Fentanyl by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Whose fundamental legal principles? Do you misunderstand the concept of a sovereign nation? Each nation is different. And each nation has the right to be different, to the extent to which they can defend their difference with thermonuclear weapons. Or weaponised Ebola. Or their weapon(s) of choice.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    23. Re: Fentanyl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The definition of imidiate family does not include 2nd or 3rd degree cousins.

  2. Re:die by taser or gas? by j35ter · · Score: 0, Troll

    You obviously have no idea how broadly the term "Terrorist" is being applied to all kind of opposition.
    But then again, I congratulate you to graduating the FoxNews academy...

    --
    Delta-Mike November Bravo Tango
  3. Bad Russians... baaaaad by Tanuki64 · · Score: 4, Funny

    US-Americans would NEVER do such things.

    1. Re:Bad Russians... baaaaad by benjfowler · · Score: 1

      Actually, probably not. The Americans are too slick to charge in with heavy weapons or poison gas like the Russians would.

      And if we get unlucky, we may yet see how.

    2. Re:Bad Russians... baaaaad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      US-Americans would NEVER do such things.

      Absolutely right, sir! Our DEA would never permit the use of a fentanyl-derived gas to defeat a terrorist attack. The surviving hostages might get high and enjoy it.

    3. Re:Bad Russians... baaaaad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      too slick or to cowardly?

    4. Re:Bad Russians... baaaaad by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      US-Americans would NEVER do such things.

      They'll get some of those famous non-US-Americans (or US-non-Americans) from Gitmo to do the job for them. With implausible deniability, of course.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  4. Re:die by taser or gas? by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Also, if you can save 400 of 500 in a hostage situation and catch all the 10+ terrorists. Go for it. The terrorists would kill them anyway and if they escape, they can continue their business.

    "if you can save 400 of 500 in a hostage situation " - Is this the best way to save them? Is this the way to save the most of them?
    "catch all the 10+ terrorists" - Who judged them? Who decided they are terrorists?
    "The terrorists would kill them anyway" - Are you a Oracle? Do the police employ oracles or futurologists?
    "if they escape, they can continue their business" - Are you sure?

    So, your scenario is:
    1 - The official "police judge" condemns the terrorists with his judging powers that don't require lawyers, juries nor all that hassle.
    2 - The official "police oracles" see the future to know how many innocents would the terrorists kill.
    3 - Based on the police judge's decision and the police oracle's prediction, the best possible result "killing just a few of the innocents to capture the guilty" is selected and applied with the new weapon.

  5. USA - One Big Prison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobody will use it, at least in US. Local agencies are filled with trigger happy psychos who get their satisfaction by unloading guns.
    It is dangerous and twisted country. Largest population of own citizens imprisoned.
    USA after North Korea are to be avoided by everybody with common sense.

    1. Re:USA - One Big Prison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Someone's been watching western european propaganda again..

    2. Re:USA - One Big Prison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't let the door hit you in you fat butt on the way out.

    3. Re:USA - One Big Prison by dave420 · · Score: 0

      Or has been reading the official statistics published by the US government... That US-bashing US government sure has some nerve, am I right??! But I guess you can safely ignore the problem if you chalk it up to European propaganda and don't spare it another thought...

    4. Re:USA - One Big Prison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Funny this. I live in an urban part of Texas in a city of over a million people. Yes, Texas... where the gun ranges have single's nights, and where possession of more than four dildos is considered a felony.

      In the past 20 years, I've yet to hear a single gunshot in the city other than the shots fired at ranges. The local PD isn't lining up people on the wall and executing them. The prisons are actually winding up slowly being emptied (due to judges not slapping long sentences on some goob caught with his bag o' weed) when 10-15 years ago, overcrowding was a major problem.

      No, the country isn't perfect, and there are a shitload of issues to consider (the failed K-12 education system, the lack of campaign finance reform), but unlike what people write, you are not going to get your head blown off the second you set foot in a US town.

      Where the rubber meets the road is this: If the US sucked as badly as a lot of Western Europeans claim, there would be a major exodus of Americans to Europe (I'm not talking hundreds to thousands, I'm talking hundreds of thousands to millions), as well as Mexico or Canada. This isn't happening, and the US is still the #1 country people immigrate to (with Russia being second), so it isn't exactly a hellhole that people talk about.

    5. Re:USA - One Big Prison by gweihir · · Score: 1

      The exodus is happening, but only by people that spent some time in Europe. I happen to know a few. The others still think that the US is the pinnacle of creation. That belief vanishes surprisingly fast when people get a good look how things really are elsewhere.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    6. Re:USA - One Big Prison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, lots of my friends have moved to Berlin or Toronto. A few of them went there and found it good, so others became more bold and did it.

      When will the fraction of US citizens with the education/experience/ability-to-get-married to do it moving to EU per year match the fraction of Indian citizens who also have this option moving to the US per year? If you look per country, the fraction moving to Belgium is going to be smaller than the fraction moving to EU. If you look at all people instead of qualified people, India will look bigger than it actually is for this purpose. Who knows, maybe we're already at parity.

      The education issue is a huge one. I think US schools are bad and getting worse.

  6. The right track? by EzInKy · · Score: 1

    Until a proper stun setting is found, it must at least be given up to law enforcement to for researching non-lethal means of control. Even the recent events in Ferguson demonstrate the desperate need here. And perhaps, when lethal weapons are done away with those who don't belong in law enforcement will leave?

    --
    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    1. Re:The right track? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ferguson? I think it equally demonstrates that some of the police have been out of control. Many put black tape or something over their name on their badge or name tag, many wore something to show solidarity with the cop who shot the unarmed man that touched off the arrests; both of these actions were against orders by the Police Chief of Ferguson, and blocking their name may be illegal. Judges have ordered the release of demonstrators who were arrested for not complying with police orders to keep moving, and judges have excoriated the police.
      The problem is the police charged with enforcing the law get away with breaking it.

    2. Re:The right track? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Until a proper stun setting is found, it must at least be given up to law enforcement to for researching non-lethal means of control. Even the recent events in Ferguson demonstrate the desperate need here. And perhaps, when lethal weapons are done away with those who don't belong in law enforcement will leave?

      The argument for non-lethal weapons is that they can be used instead of lethal weapons. Unfortunately that isn't how they are being used now. Police use non-lethal weapons where it would never have been acceptable to use lethal weapons before.
      For example it would never be acceptable to shoot a person who argues about his constitutional rights with the police officer in a non-violent manner but refuses to back off but still police wouldn't hesitate to use a taser gun against such a person.
      Of course the police officer couldn't possibly know that this person happened to have a pacemaker or any other medical condition and can not possibly be blamed for the persons death.

  7. Re:die by taser or gas? by kevingolding2001 · · Score: 1

    Do the police employ oracles or futurologists?

    It certainly seems so.

  8. Re:die by taser or gas? by dargaud · · Score: 1
    You can't tase 500 people at once (which is what you'd need in cases of mass hostage situation where you can't tell hostages from hostage takers).

    Also for once the summary is spot on: "these weapons rely on exact dosage to prevent fatality, and that the ability to deliver the right agent to the right people in the right dose without exposing the wrong people, or delivering the wrong dose' is a near-impossible expectation". Maybe you should have read it. Or remembered that in the russian vs Chechen situation a decade ago, most of the hostages died because of the incapacitating agent. Also, if all it takes is a few gas mask, expect the next hostage takers to use gas masks.

    --
    Non-Linux Penguins ?
  9. That's right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... deliver the right agent to the right people in the right dose ...

    Unfortunately Hollywood promises us that knock-out gas is a one-size-fits-all product.

  10. Re:die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't know what you're talking about.

    In a state of right "go for it" is just as wrong as can be. The idea of "state of right" is that we delegate power to the state. As a consequence, the state isn't supposed to "go for it" -- it's supposed to be *very* careful about any active harm it may cause.

    Have those agents been clinically tested? Have the officers using them been trained on right dosage? What's plan B when something goes wrong? Cover up and round-up the leakers, as usual?

    Argh. What's wrong with you people? Seen too much Rambo or what?

  11. Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Would I rather get hideously disfigured by a pistol bullet or nerve gas? It doesn't really make a difference but, like every Russian hostage siege, they screwed up massively.

  12. Just another trolley problem by kruach+aum · · Score: 0

    Exact dosage is impossible, so how many civilian casualties are acceptable per knocked out assailant? Will you passively let people be killed by not using the gas, or actively kill a few to save more?

    I don't understand how this situation can be interesting enough to dedicate newspaper articles to it over and over. It never changes. The answers never change. People arguing that theirs is the only correct one never change. Maybe condemning the actions of others of a different ethical persuasion never gets old? That almost has to be it. Everything else stays the same.

  13. Re:die by taser or gas? by will_die · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In fact Foxnews uses the federal definition of terrorist. The exceptions are when they are quoting or taling with people who don't.
    However thanks for sharing your hate and ignorance.

  14. Re:die by taser or gas? by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Informative

    FYI, the federal definition of terrorism:
    - - - - - - - -

    18 U.S.C. 2331 defines "international terrorism" and "domestic terrorism" for purposes of Chapter 113B of the Code, entitled "Terrorism”:

    "International terrorism" means activities with the following three characteristics:
    * Involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
    * Appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
    * Occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S., or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum.*

    "Domestic terrorism" means activities with the following three characteristics:
    * Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
    * Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and
    * Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.

    18 U.S.C. 2332b defines the term "federal crime of terrorism" as an offense that:
    * Is calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct; and
    * Is a violation of one of several listed statutes, including 930(c) (relating to killing or attempted killing during an attack on a federal facility with a dangerous weapon); and 1114 (relating to killing or attempted killing of officers and employees of the U.S.).

    FISA defines "international terrorism" in a nearly identical way, replacing "primarily" outside the U.S. with "totally" outside the U.S. 50 U.S.C. 1801(c).

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  15. major tranquilizer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Haha. This is like a psychiatrist ordering a deadly psych drug cocktail claiming its safe when in reality it causes severe irreversible and accumulative damage.

    Remember it takes one exposure to many types of anesthesia drugs to cause permanent long term memory loss and increased risk of dementia (which is not noticeable by the person exposed, and impacts nearly everyone because anesthesia is used routinely in all sorts of operations.).

    Risk of death increases 17% with anticonvulsant and antianxiety and sleep aid drugs.

    People who take antipsychotics get swelling of the brain, scar tissue, and fluid build up.

    I wouldn't want the police to be able to use shit on me like this!! Fuck big pharma!! No chemical on earth can safely be used without damaging cells, CNS, or other functions.

    http://www.OregonStateHospital.net/resources.html

  16. Geneva Convention? by spiritplumber · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This stuff wouldn't be allowed in warfare, why is it allowed in use by civilian agencies?

    --
    Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
    1. Re:Geneva Convention? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It isn't, but not every civilian agency follows the law, and not every nation follows the Geneva convention.

    2. Re:Geneva Convention? by mrbester · · Score: 2

      It's not the Geneva Convention, it's the Chemical Weapons Convention.

      --
      "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
    3. Re:Geneva Convention? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This stuff wouldn't be allowed in warfare, why is it allowed in use by civilian agencies?

      Oh, you mean like hollow point bullets that the military does not use, but local police forces do use?

      Don't be a gullible. Seriously. We all know they shouldn't be using or doing certain things, but they do.

    4. Re:Geneva Convention? by cdrudge · · Score: 2

      This stuff wouldn't be allowed in warfare, why is it allowed in use by civilian agencies?

      Because the Chemical Weapons Convention explicitly allows it:

      9. "Purposes Not Prohibited Under this Convention" means
      ...
      (d) Law enforcement including domestic riot control purposes.

      My guess is that countries wanted to prohibit an opponent from using it on them (in case TPTB weren't prepared) but wanted to reserve the right to use it on citizens (when TPTB are prepared).

    5. Re:Geneva Convention? by misexistentialist · · Score: 1

      Warfare is a gentleman's sport between government elites, domestic enforcement is animal herding.

    6. Re:Geneva Convention? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hollow-point bullets aren't allowed in warfare, because they cause more severe wounds. They're allowed in use by civilian agencies, because they're less likely to overpenetrate and kill someone behind a wall.

    7. Re:Geneva Convention? by matbury · · Score: 1

      Yep, the Chemical Weapons Convention: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... Also, deliberately targeting civilians with chemical weapons or anyone outside of a declared war zone would be against the Geneva Conventions. Tear gas, pepper spray, etc. are nerve agents which carry a high risk of permanent injury and death. They're classified as chemical weapons. The vast majority of the world's supply of tear gas is manufactured by companies based in New York, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania.

    8. Re:Geneva Convention? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's not much humanitarian reason to ban hollow point bullets. They are arguably more humane in fact, because they are more likely to deliver a quick kill.

      The real reason military forces aren't interested in using hollow points is that they tend to jam many automatic firearms, and ball ammo (i.e. full metal jacket) is cheaper.

    9. Re:Geneva Convention? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also, it wasn't hard to give up chemical weapons once they realized that in warfare, when both sides will probably be prepared with gas masks, gas attacks aren't very effective.

      Against unprepared civilians, though, gas could be highly effective.

    10. Re:Geneva Convention? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same AC here. I'll add that artillery is the main killer on the battlefield. Bullets don't even matter that much. A lot of gunfire is just for the purpose of pinning the enemy down so you can blow them up.

    11. Re:Geneva Convention? by spiritplumber · · Score: 1

      That's actually a thing, though - the way things are now is very counterintuitive. Passing a law that states "Police forces are not allowed to use weapons that are banned by the Geneva Convention" should get about as much popular support as a bill endorsing Youtube cat videos. If we draft it, how do we get a congressman to introduce it?

      --
      Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
    12. Re:Geneva Convention? by eric_harris_76 · · Score: 1

      I was kinda wondering about that after the Branch Davidian incident in Waco, TX. Never got a satisfactory answer.

      --
      There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
  17. I guess you missed Kent State? by EzInKy · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Non-lethal weapons would allow protestors to protest without getting killed. It is fair easier for a live person to argue their case in court than a corpse. The important thing here is to take away the governments ability to kill.

    --
    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    1. Re:I guess you missed Kent State? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Non-lethal weapons would allow protestors to protest without getting killed.

      Incorrect. Lethal weapons allows protesters to protest without getting killed since it is completely legal to protest and the police have no business shooting at protesters.
      Non-lethal weapons makes it possible for the police to prevent people from protesting without killing them. (Except for a few persons that happened to be too weak for the non-lethal weapons to be non-lethal.)

    2. Re:I guess you missed Kent State? by EzInKy · · Score: 1

      Again, I hold Kent State up as an example where non-lethal force would have benefited the protestors. Once dead, their said of the story can't be heard.

      --
      Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    3. Re:I guess you missed Kent State? by khasim · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Non-lethal weapons would allow protestors to protest without getting killed.

      Protestors should be able to protest WITHOUT the police using either lethal or non-lethal weapons against them.

      The important thing here is to take away the governments ability to kill.

      Except that you are not doing that.

      You are providing the police with pain-compliance (aka "torture") devices.

      And as can be seen in many news reports, once the police/government has them, they will use them. And that use will not be INSTEAD of more lethal options. They will be used when the victims do not IMMEDIATELY follow the orders of the police. Even if those orders are illegal to begin with.

      Those weapons will be treated as a "force multiplier". Not as a preferred option over lethal force.

    4. Re:I guess you missed Kent State? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but your point is invalid. The event is comparable to Adalen shootings.
      There the solution was not to switch over to non-lethal weapons but to decide that a military force has no business operating against civilians. It is a job for the police force that is trained to work with civilians.
      If you need more arguments to why Kent State isn't a valid example for your point the Ohio National Guard has not switched over to non-lethal weapons and to further the point the official statement afterwards was that the Guard's actions were "unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable."
      There was no reason to use either lethal or non-lethal weapons at that point. Using non-lethal weapons would also have been inexcusable.

    5. Re:I guess you missed Kent State? by EzInKy · · Score: 0

      Protestors should be able to protest up and until the interfere with my right to live my life. Non-lethal weapons would go a long way in keeping them out of my yard.

      --
      Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    6. Re:I guess you missed Kent State? by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We should be able to protest without a large police force always quickly descending on us. Police see protests like shooting galleries at a state fair and break out the riot gear and anti-mine vehicles as fast of possible. The best way for police to win is to not even show up unless looting or actual rioting happens. But guess what? You can't have a riot with only one side there! It's Art of War 101. It's easy to to turn a protest into a riot by showing up looking like an invasion force and screaming at everyone over bullhorns. When the PD does that, their still attacking first just via psychological means instead of physical. Once the general melee is going THEN the looters show up to take advantage of the chaos. The PD uses this as an escalation point, going after everyone including members of the press, teargassing citizens who are complying and staying inside...there must be a manual somewhere probably written by the CIA.

    7. Re:I guess you missed Kent State? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this a problem for you? Usually when I see protests, they're on public land, where you have no right to privacy, or even being left alone. You have the right to not be assaulted by them, but that's about it.

      And if you are having protests out in front of your house, then seriously, what the hell did you do to get a mob to organize against you specifically. That sort of thing is usually reserved for public officials.

      And lastly, unless they're causing you serious threat, even non-lethal weapons would be legal. It'd count the same as punching somebody in the face. i.e. as assault.

    8. Re:I guess you missed Kent State? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is the dumbest thing I've heard all week. They don't have the 'right' to kill, they have the power to kill. Try taking that away.

    9. Re:I guess you missed Kent State? by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      A) so would a fence

      B) cops have no interest in keeping kids off your lawn.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    10. Re:I guess you missed Kent State? by DarkOx · · Score: 1

      The counter argument though is the non-lethal weapons lower the hurdle for use of weapons at all. Any cop knows the outcome of using his service pistol against someone is likely that someones death. Most cops being decent people don't WANT to kill people.

      Most cops however like all people value their own safety if you give them a tool like a taser and tell them it won't likely cause serious injury they become very likely to use it anytime the situation gets "tense" its the safe way out for them. They won't consider the corner case outcomes where the person has a heart condition or something and it could kill, humans don't think way.

      Should someone who is shouting during a political event but otherwise not doing anything violent or injurious to others be subject to taser and pepper spray, those microwave pain ray things etc? I don't think that is the right thing for our society.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    11. Re:I guess you missed Kent State? by Optic7 · · Score: 1

      Thanks for your insightful post. It makes sense and I agree, except that I understand from first hand accounts that sometimes protests and demonstrations attract people that are there expressly to get into fights with the police, so it's not always only AFTER the melee starts that they act. Sometimes these elements actively incite the conflicts. However, that doesn't take away from your point that the police showing up in riot gear is starting with an escalation.

      NPR had an article a few weeks back about exactly the kind of alternative style of policing that you describe. It's a worthy read (or listen) if you or others reading this are interested: http://www.npr.org/2014/09/25/...

  18. Efficient solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When they can't run they make an easier target.

  19. It's already been done by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "There is no agreed definition of incapacitating chemical agents"

    "incapacitate without permanent disability"

    That's how I would define the end result of pepper spray.

  20. Re:die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Your concern for the hostages is appropriate. While a crime is in progress, the police should be concerned with reducing the number of victims, as well as reducing the suffering of the remaining victims.

    The concern for the criminals during the time of the crime is misplaced. The legal process is how we deal with the aftermath of a crime, not the crime itself. You're right is being careful with the label "terrorist"; that relates to motive. Wed need a trial to establish that. I use "criminal" because that broader label is appropriate during any crime. " Hostage takers" would have worked too, here. Condemning them isn't necessary - they're in the act of committing a crime.

    It's incredibly naive to assume hostage takers won't kill the hostages, so force is always appropriate. The relevant question then becomes how much force to apply, as any form of force also places the hostages at a risk. The single relevant question thus is, what is the lower risk to the hostages? The best bet is to look at historical outcomes in comparable situations. This is complex. It depends on the number of hostage takers and hostages, the site, time, the background of the hostage taker, etcetera.

    That said, negotiation helps with an ill-prepared bank robber turning hostage taker. 10 hostage takers and 500 hostages indicates a lot of preparation, and strongly points at a lack of negotiation options.

  21. Re:die by taser or gas? by benjfowler · · Score: 0

    Libertarian basement-dweller crap.

    Barely anybody apart from violent radical Muslims are getting explicitly labelled as terrorists, and you know it. It's dishonest and frankly stupid to attempt to claim otherwise.

    But never mind me. I shouldn't interrupt the clueless internet-libertarian circlejerk here.

  22. Why do governments need this ? by amias · · Score: 1

    At what point do we decide that giving the ruling classes more and more technological weapons to use against its citizens is a sign that our system of government has failed ? i think that happened a while ago to be honest. If your government needs weapons to stay in power its not leadership its tyranny.

    I reject the assumption that the worlds need weapons to be safe , we need NO weapons to be truely safe.

    --
    [site]
    1. Re:Why do governments need this ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      some one mod this up yo!

  23. Re:die by taser or gas? by advocate_one · · Score: 1, Troll

    so when is the US Government going to be indicted on terrorism charges then?

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
  24. VICTORIA SNELGROVE by pz · · Score: 4, Informative

    In 2004, VIctoria Snelgrove was hit in the eye with a pepper spray bullet by the Boston Police as part of crowd control (for a non-riotous crowd that was not responding to their commands). She subsequently died of her injury.

    Non-lethal ICA? No such thing.

    --

    Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
    1. Re:VICTORIA SNELGROVE by swb · · Score: 1

      They seem to have moved to the description "less lethal" when talking about weapons of this class, especially projectile weapons like pepper spray pellet guns and the "rubber" bullets used in extreme riot control circumstances.

    2. Re:VICTORIA SNELGROVE by kruach+aum · · Score: 1

      Wait, do you mean to say someone DIED from GETTING SHOT IN THE EYE? What the fuck? That doesn't make any sense at all.

    3. Re:VICTORIA SNELGROVE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, with a "paintball". Because at that time cops considered them non-lethal as opposed to "Less Lethal".

    4. Re:VICTORIA SNELGROVE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know that big hard stuff that you have behind your eye, don't you? That thing is called a head. And inside that head thingy there is this mass of gooey grey stuff called a brain. If that grey gooey thing gets damaged, you could die.

    5. Re:VICTORIA SNELGROVE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, I thought I was the only person who remembered this. It was for an idiotic sports riot.

  25. Re:die by taser or gas? by Thanshin · · Score: 0

    The concern for the criminals during the time of the crime is misplaced.

    What about my concern on who decides they are criminals? What if I don't trust the police to make such judgement?

    Condemning them isn't necessary - they're in the act of committing a crime.

    A crime which sentence is to be decided by judges. Otherwise we might as well replace cops with snipers.

    The relevant question then becomes how much force to apply, as any form of force also places the hostages at a risk. The single relevant question thus is, what is the lower risk to the hostages? The best bet is to look at historical outcomes in comparable situations. This is complex. It depends on the number of hostage takers and hostages, the site, time, the background of the hostage taker, etcetera.

    That said, negotiation helps with an ill-prepared bank robber turning hostage taker. 10 hostage takers and 500 hostages indicates a lot of preparation, and strongly points at a lack of negotiation options.

    I fully agree on the question, but not on the answer. I simply do not wish the police to have the right to decide how many hostages it's ok to kill in a hostage situation. And giving them the weapons to apply the result of that decision is too close to implying they have the right to take it.

    I think everyone reasonable agrees that the decision in such a situation is an extremely hard one. For me, that's precisely the reason to place the burden of making that decision far from the people we use to protect us from common criminals. Because those people are the most biased on precisely the taking of that kind of decisions.

  26. Re:die by taser or gas? by dave420 · · Score: 1

    Those sound like pretty decent definitions, apart from the use of the word "appear", which means those definitions are entirely subjective, and allow someone who had no political motive behind their heinous crimes to be labelled a terrorist when they were not trying to coerce public opinion.

    They also clearly define plenty of actions by the US government as terrorist in nature, but I'm sure Fox News wouldn't discuss that...

  27. Re:die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did you read the fine print?

    *** Disclaimer: These rules don't apply to the group that wrote these laws.

  28. Only To Be Expected by some+old+guy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As the USA nears bottom in its slide toward becoming a complete corporatist police state, I see no surprises in any new "law enforcement tool". Hell, the cops have AFV's, drones, and crew-served weapons. Why not chem warfare, right?

    --
    Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
    1. Re:Only To Be Expected by Sir_Eptishous · · Score: 2

      Right. It really is interesting to see what the US has devolved into.

      What we are seeing is the US and China becoming more like each other:
      China turning into a consumerist, polluting, financial behemoth, while the CCP keeps control
      The US turning into a self-censoring, pseudo-police state.

      --
      We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
    2. Re:Only To Be Expected by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That slide is getting steeper, but I'm afraid we still have a long way to the bottom.

    3. Re:Only To Be Expected by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget the bayonets. Yeah, US police departments have recieved thousands of byonets. I guess if a successor to Occupy Wallstreet breaks out, the police will be ready now?!!

      https://www.google.com/search?...

  29. Re:die by taser or gas? by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

    I didn't know Occupy, the Tea Party, gun owners, and people who buy stuff with cash were "barely anybody."

    All groups that were put on a terrorist watch list at some point or another, and I know I left a bunch out.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  30. Re:die by taser or gas? by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 1

    so basically, if your not an agent of a large country who hasn't officially declared war on the USA, your a terrorist. Surprising that it doesn't also include "corporate" next to "government", as in "affect the conduct of corporate or government" and "attack on a federal or corporate facility". And how large of a group qualifies as a "civilian population"?

  31. Re:die by taser or gas? by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 1

    usually it's the State Department who declares whomever as a terrorist, not a local judge. I can't quote specific law but you can read this and this but seeing as recently the FBI declared the beheading in Oklahoma "not linked to terrorism" beside the fact he was a Islamic convert who had ISIS stuff all over his FB.

    Until individual state legislatures start passing laws allowing their local jurisdictions to declare individuals (and groups) terrorists, your "cop judge" theory is a none-starter (for now). This would quickly end up in the Supreme Court; it's akin to a state deciding to declare war on a group or individual. Oklahoma can't legally have a judge declare someone a terrorist any more than they can legally invade Mexico with the Oklahoma National Guard. The whole system doesn't work that way.

  32. Diethyl Ether? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The most popular sleeping agent in Russia is diethyl ether (C4H10O).

    1. Re:Diethyl Ether? by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 1

      That's a bit unnerving, given the prevalence of smoking in Russia. Ether's therapeutic index isn't terrible, but when mixed with air and exposed to an ignition source, it turns into a fuel-air bomb, significantly impairing its "non-lethality".

  33. Re:die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Head in the sand dumbass crap. Replace Muslims with Jews, and now you're a nazi.

  34. LOL at "Chechen fighters"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Surely you meant MUSLIMS? Afraid to tell the truth? Who needs the truth, when we can lie about reality, and allow thousands more people to be killed by muslims?

    1. Re:LOL at "Chechen fighters"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Surely you meant MUSLIMS? Afraid to tell the truth? Who needs the truth, when we can lie about reality, and allow thousands more people to be killed by muslims?

      Yep.

      You got the balls to look at the evil that is Islam? Here you go.

  35. G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaver_(Firefly)#Origin

  36. Re:die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perhaps it is best then to let the hostages vote for the course of action.

  37. A tragedy, but stretching the bounds of relevance by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 1

    Look, even the summary above makes it clear that "lethality" is usually dose-dependent, and that dosage control is practically impossible in most real-world crowd-control situations. The Snelgrove tragedy is completely unrelated to that issue.

    Whether the police are shooting rounds of pepper spray, lead, VX, or candy-canes, if one of them enters your eye socket at high enough velocity, it's unlikely to be "non-lethal". Let's stay focused on the real issue here, the mythology of "non-lethal" chemical incapacitants, and not get distracted by the obvious "don't shoot people in the face with rounds of anything".

  38. Joe Biden for 2016 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Joe Biden is a square shooter. Joe Biden for 2016

  39. Scary Stuff by koan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    During the raid, all 40 of the attackers were killed, with no casualties among spetznas, but about 130 hostages died due to adverse reactions to the gas (including nine foreigners).[3] All but two of the hostages who died during the siege were killed by the toxic substance pumped into the theater to subdue the militants.[4][5] The use of the gas was widely condemned as heavy-handed, but the American and British governments deemed Russia's actions justifiable.[6] Physicians in Moscow condemned the refusal to disclose the identity of the gas that prevented them from saving more lives. Some reports said the drug naloxone was successfully used to save some hostages.[7]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
    1. Re:Scary Stuff by TubeSteak · · Score: 1

      Within days it was widely reported in both US and Russian media that the aerosol used was Fentanyl or some related/derivative agent.

      No, Russia has never said specifically what it was that they used, but I wouldn't expect any country to disclose the tools they use for anti-terror operations.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    2. Re:Scary Stuff by koan · · Score: 1

      I recall that, makes sense if they used Naloxone to revive a few, hard to say what would have happened if they hadn't used the gas but the body count was far to high.

      The thing that troubles me is the Western governments acceptance of the use of it.

      --
      "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
  40. Re:die by taser or gas? by pla · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Also, if you can save 400 of 500 in a hostage situation and catch all the 10+ terrorists. Go for it. The terrorists would kill them anyway and if they escape, they can continue their business.

    Meanwhile, if you have 5000 peaceful protesters refusing to clear out of a park, hey, so a thousand accidentally die. Meh, go ahead and gas 'em, Lou!

    I think you underestimate the mindset of the police. The People had it way better when a cop needed to decide whether you posed enough of a threat to actually shoot you, and then need to justify that decision later. Now, they tase first and ask questions later. 6YO girl crying because you arrested mom? Tase. 85YO confused grannie in a panic over a situation she doesn't understand? Tase. Passenger in a car peacefully insisting you respect his civil rights? Tase.

    ICAs will just make it easier for police to apply the same reasoning to large groups, rather than to individuals.


    BTW, a clarification on the FP - The "unknown" agent used by Russia consisted of a fentanyl analog - An ultra-strong opiate. For reference, as high as 9% of people have a potentially fatal allergic reaction to opiates; on top of that, individuals have a wide range of responses even when given a known dose; some people can take enough morphine to kill an elephant, while others take half of a Tylenol-II and drool on themselves for the next six hours. Using opiates as crowd control will both cause needless deaths and leave a significant fraction of the crowd basically unimpaired.

  41. Re:die by taser or gas? by Forgefather · · Score: 1

    "The relevant question then becomes how much force to apply"

    This is not the relevant question at all. During a hostage situation the use of force is far more likely to escalate the situation into one that would result in the death of hostages. A better solution would be to see if the hostage takers could be talked down. This is normally the first response of any decent policing unit.

    As you yourself point out negotiation is relevant for small bank robbers, and it is also true for large hostage situations. Attempting to minimize casualties by sacrificing hostages for the "greater good" is not the behavior that I want from my law enforcement.

    --
    "There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
  42. Research in this area is probably a good thing. by Wycliffe · · Score: 1

    Research in this area is probably a good thing if done right. Mace, tear gas, and stun guns are not
    very effective in a large crowd or hostage situation. I agree with the article that current methods
    rely on exact dosage to prevent fatality but it's highly probable that we can find better chemicals that don't.
    Marijuana is one of many known substances where the effective dose and the lethal dose are orders of
    magnitude apart. Research into incapacitating substances with very low effective doses but very high
    lethal doses would be where I would want to focus. Something like this would be very useful. You could
    make everyone pass out and then isolate the bad guys before they wake up saving both civilian and
    criminal lives.

    1. Re:Research in this area is probably a good thing. by Reziac · · Score: 1

      You could also quickly and easily negate any sort of protest... including protests against using chemical restraint on the public.

      Who are the "bad guys" is generally dependent on what laws you have and who enforces them. YOUR side won't always be in charge.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    2. Re:Research in this area is probably a good thing. by Wycliffe · · Score: 1

      Biology doesn't work that way. juts because a substance would be really convenient doesn't mean it's chemically possible for it to exist.

      I might agreed with you except that we already have substances with a large spread between effective dose and lethal dose.

      Rendering someone incapacitated is inherently dangerous because simply banging your head as you fall from standing to prone can be deadly.

      I didn't say it would be 100% safe but that the bar is extremely low and it should be possible to improve on what we have now.

    3. Re:Research in this area is probably a good thing. by Wycliffe · · Score: 1

      You could also quickly and easily negate any sort of protest... including protests against using chemical restraint on the public.

      Who are the "bad guys" is generally dependent on what laws you have and who enforces them. YOUR side won't always be in charge.

      Regardless of which side I was on, I would prefer something safer than the current solutions. Anything has the potential to be
      abused but that doesn't mean we should ban research on it just because of a potential. The bar is pretty low. It should be
      relatively easy to find something better than mace, tear gas, and mustard gas. Finding something safer would benefit you
      regardless of which side of the conflict you are one.

    4. Re:Research in this area is probably a good thing. by Reziac · · Score: 1

      Safer is good (and more information via research is good too), but I think what will happen is more use against the public for more trivial reasons, because after all, it's "safe".

      Kinda like how pepper spray and tasers were safer than being shot, and LEOs became inclined to use them against the most trivial or even no resistance.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    5. Re:Research in this area is probably a good thing. by Wycliffe · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately this is part of human nature. It's why many safety devices like child resistant medicine bottles
      don't actually give as good as result as they should. I've actually seen multiple different parents give their
      child a prescription pill bottle to play with as a rattle to keep them quiet. There are plenty of other safety devices
      like anti-lock brakes where changes in behavior negates most if not all of the gain in safety.

    6. Re:Research in this area is probably a good thing. by Reziac · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I remember someone mentioned how requiring bicycle helmets correlates with an increase in serious car-vs-bike accidents, presumably because of the false sense of security (but also probably because it impacts peripheral vision -- we use that far more than we're consciously aware).

      Or as someone's sig says, "Safety is a tyrant's tool; no one can oppose safety."

      With enough such tools, it becomes possible to oppress the citizenry in complete "safety".

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  43. Re:die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So was the paranoia about the Patriot Act.

  44. Re:die by taser or gas? by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

    What about my concern on who decides they are criminals? What if I don't trust the police to make such judgement?

    If people with guns are pointing them at other people without guns, and state they will kill them unless 'x', I'd say the room for error in judgement is rather small, probably so close to 0 that error is impossible.

    I fully agree on the question, but not on the answer. I simply do not wish the police to have the right to decide how many hostages it's ok to kill in a hostage situation. And giving them the weapons to apply the result of that decision is too close to implying they have the right to take it.

    I think everyone reasonable agrees that the decision in such a situation is an extremely hard one. For me, that's precisely the reason to place the burden of making that decision far from the people we use to protect us from common criminals. Because those people are the most biased on precisely the taking of that kind of decisions.

    In the case of the Russians, I believe that decision was made all the way at the top circles, if not the top. Israel, as well, was at the top. Do you have a case where such a decision was made by a local street policeman? Or even a sergeant? Instead of attacking windmills, how about focusing on something realistic?

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  45. Let's be clear by addie · · Score: 2

    "... their attempt, 12 years ago, to save 900 hostages held in a theater by Chechen fighters."

    In fact, 130 of those hostages died due to the gas. Is that a victory? Is that considered an effective tactic?

    1. Re:Let's be clear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Considering the shrapnel embedded in suicide belts (worn by the women terrorists) that could have gone off, that 130 could have been the whole 900, so most likely a net positive.

    2. Re:Let's be clear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bad guys lost, of course they'll spin it as a win. Otherwise they would lose their toys!

    3. Re:Let's be clear by ducomputergeek · · Score: 1

      To the Russians....absolutely. The point of hostages is to prevent authorities from storming the building. The Russians tend to respond to this by saying: "Doesn't matter, we'll kill everyone if we have to, but we will make damned sure we kill you..."

      Makes hostage taking much less effective as a tactic.

      The Russians/USSR did the same thing to Arabs during the 70's/80's when taking hostages was the fad...

      So the story goes, some Soviet Diplomats were kidnapped in Lebanon. The Soviets send in an Alpha team, find the kidnappers families and start sending them pieces of those family members in boxes. Shortly thereafter the hostages are released and no group in the middle east has bothered to fuck the Russians again...

      --
      "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
  46. Re:die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I vote for getting hit by a shotgun blast because the cops are too incompetent to hit a target with rifles.

  47. Evolutionary pressure by handy_vandal · · Score: 1

    Evolutionary pressure will tend to select for individuals who can survive and resist these agents.

    Five generations, maybe ten, and we'll have a sub-population of insurgents who drink incapacitant agents from breakfast.

    --
    -kgj
  48. Set Phasers to stun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Scotty, put the ship's phasers on stun. Fire a burst in a one-block radius around these co-ordinates." Worked for Captain Kirk. The bad guys all fell down and none of them smacked their heads or fell off a cliff or...

  49. Re:die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course not. A thousand citizens did not accidentally die.
    This afternoon, heroic and timely police action prevented a thousand Terrorists, hostage-takers, child pornographers, hackers, dirty-bombers and possible-ebola-carriers from perpetrating the worst attack in US/British/Wherever history in the biggest lifesaving Stingray-enabled operation ever. Unwilling to be taken alive, the gave their lives to in a historical police shootout. Numerous journalists known to the police in relation to various (whistleblowing) charges were also arrested while attempting to fabricate charges of police indiscriminately slaughtering unarmed civilians, using , a well-known hacking software designed to falsify crime scenes.

  50. How about using pot? by LeDopore · · Score: 2

    It calms people down, and since there are no THC receptors in the brainstem, high doses aren't life-threatening. You might need a lot of it though, and an unintended consequence may be that people would deliberately try to get police to use it on them.

    --
    Expected time to finish is 1 hour and 60 minutes.
  51. Re:die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Problem is, if you start placing that kind of restriction, the process becomes so bureaucratic that no decision will be made in time, and your hostages might be butchered while you wait for the authorized decision maker to answer his fucking cellphone and greenlight the appropriate course of action.

    So, it becomes a situation with no optimal solution. Whatever you do, you are going to compromise.

  52. Gaseous Fentanyle by Trachman · · Score: 1

    The mysterious gas is Fentanyle, in gaseus form, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F... .Fentanyle is 100 times more potent than morphine

    This particular Fentanyle has been manufactured and supplied by one pharmaceutical manufacturer in Kaunas, Lithuania, albeit prior to 1991. There were investigative journalists who have covered this topic exhaustively, in details several years ago.

    Fentanyle has been used in Nord Ost operation and it was not a success. Hundreds of hostages died from overdose and Russians do not like to bring this instance of heavy handed handling of situation.

  53. Government Liability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With such a large portion of our US population taking medications for things like diabetes, blood pressure, psychiatric problems not to mention a myriad of other minor debilitating diseases it would be irresponsible of our government to incapacitate a large crowd of people. The incapacitated would be subjected to jail like conditions and not have proper and timely medical services.

    They would have no assurance that the ringleaders would be affected.

    Likely scenario: 5 of the 12 terrorists got away; 50 of the innocent bystanders died of medical problems; 200 now have strange and persistant symptoms the government will not acknowledge (like our soldiers returning from Afganistan.); and finally another 300 with no medical problems but who want to ride this cash-cow gravy train.

    Thay's my 2 minutes of thinking about this while drinking my first cup of warm beverage this cold morning. Knowing a lawyer who used to be my brother this sounds like a lawyers' wet dream.

  54. Memory by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 3

    My memory is probably lacking here. . . . but I thought the gas was a Fentanyl based one. A quick glance over at Wiki confirms my memory is still somewhat intact I suppose:

    " A gas, it is presumed, based on a derivative of fentanyl was used in 2002 in the Moscow theatre hostage crisis to incapacitate Chechen terrorist attackers (and their hostages) too quickly for them to retaliate. More than 15% of those affected died, including 117 of the 800 hostages. "

    As far as I'm concerned, the police forces of the United States do not need any further toys to play with / test out on their " battlefield ". We already have more than enough evidence of less than lethal devices ( read that Tasers ) being used as compliance devices instead of the non-lethal alternatives they were supposed to be.

    In other words, if the officer has no justification in drawing his firearm, he also has no justification in pulling the Taser either.

    Until we have a full blown independent system that polices the police, we don't need to provide them with any more means to terrorize the citizens of this country. Trust in Law Enforcement is already at an all time low in this country. If they keep pushing, they may soon get the " battlefield " they've always wanted. Unfortunately for them, battlefields are rarely one-way affairs. If they consider us the enemy, ( any non-LE typically is the enemy in their eyes ) then they had best realize we vastly outnumber and outgun them in every aspect.

    For you LE's out there, imagine a job where you are in harms way every moment of every day from every citizen of this country. If you don't start culling the bad apples out, we'll simply start viewing you as you do us.

    As the enemy.

    When that day comes, (insert your favorite deity here) help you.

  55. No longer a brown note by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now a brown smell. Progress.

  56. Re:A tragedy, but stretching the bounds of relevan by pz · · Score: 1

    It wasn't the chemicals, as you point out, but the penetrating object that killed her. She bled out. If she hadn't bled out, she would have likely suffered severe brain damage as skull and projectile fragments entered her cranium.

    The relevance being, also as you point out, that shooting anything into the face is a bad idea when non-lethality is the intent. But any chemical that is going to be delivered in such a way has exactly that potential, as do rubber bullets (have you seen what those do? non-lethal does not mean non-damaging).

    Any chemical means to convince a highly agitated crowd to cease and disperse is going to have extraordinarily strong effects, even when used correctly, with some suffering the effects more than others. Some fraction of the population is always going to be sufficiently vulnerable for lethality.

    Ultimately, I think we're agreed: The very idea of a non-lethal chemical weapon is absurd.

    --

    Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
  57. Easy solution... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just flood the compartment with Anesthizine gas.

  58. Stumm gas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey, it looks like they are developing Stumm gas...

  59. Smart /sarc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe if the police spent more time actually digging to find gangs and individuals enabled by gangs to use incapacitating agents as well as disruptors of short to long term memory pathways, instead of FUCKING MAKING IT EASIER FOR CRIMINALS.... *headslap*.... oh wait, we forgot the famous quote regarding the fine line between the policemen and the criminals...

  60. Re:die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The law with a number of unconstitutional provisions (some struck down, many remain)? That Unpatriotic Act?

    There is no paranoia when it's blatantly clear that the government is just trying to seize more power.

  61. A tragedy, but stretching the bounds of relevance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is pretty obvious link: "The mythology of 'non-lethal' chemical incapacitants", as you put it, is quite similar to the mythology of other non-lethal weapons that, in fact, do kill people.

  62. Re:die by taser or gas? by davester666 · · Score: 1

    domestic or foreign?

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  63. Re:A tragedy, but stretching the bounds of relevan by spiritplumber · · Score: 1

    Doesn't matter. If that particular combination of payload and delivery system resulted in at least one human life ending prematurely, then by dictionary definition it's lethal.

    --
    Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
  64. "They died resisting arrest & disregarding ord by idontgno · · Score: 1

    "We ordered them to freeze and stop all movement. They kept breathing. They brought their deaths on themselves."

    --
    Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  65. Re:die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > What about my concern on who decides they are criminals? What if I don't trust the police to make such judgement?

    For people who have a hostage at gunpoint, I submit that your concern is misplaced. Moreover, they have a very simple method of defusing the situation: release the hostages. If the 'hostage' themselves is an alleged criminal, the courts can sort that out after everyone is taken into custody.

  66. Why do governments need this ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The world doesn't need weapons to be safe but groups of humans do.

    A disarmed world is not a stable equilibrium as there's no incentive for a given subculture not to arms themselves and gain more influence over other sub cultures with the threat of violence. As such all sub cultures need to be prepared to deal with a hypothetical armed sub culture, and that usually means arming themselves as a deterrent.

  67. Research in this area is probably a good thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Biology doesn't work that way. juts because a substance would be really convenient doesn't mean it's chemically possible for it to exist.

    Rendering someone incapacitated is inherently dangerous because simply banging your head as you fall from standing to prone can be deadly. Further the parts of human biology that make good targets for disabling a person also tend to be the parts you'd attack to kill them.

  68. Re:die by taser or gas? by someone1234 · · Score: 1

    Yay, thanks for explaining for me. This is exactly what i meant. When there are 500 people held by a largeish number of hostage takers, it is not normal crime but terrorism. Sharpshooters or negotiations won't help. Obviously, i didn't meant to gas a bank building during a botched bankrobbery, but meant obvious terrorist acts, like the russian case.
    In such cases, saving 400 out of 500 is actually a victory.

    --
    Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
  69. Re: die by taser or gas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your statement that 9% of people have a fatal opiate reaction is NONSENSE. I have in the past 14 years have give opiates including fentanyl and its derivatives and analogs to thousands of people. ZERO deaths!!
    The Russians died as a result of mismanagement of the victims post exposure to opiates. I.e. Lack of mechanical ventilation.

  70. Re:A tragedy, but stretching the bounds of relevan by Reziac · · Score: 1

    My first thought was -- what if it hits a kid or small adult? I'd guess their dosage assumes a roughly 150 pound adult, because that way it'll stop the "more dangerous" persons. I guess anyone under the presumed body mass had better not get hit, eh?

    --
    ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?