UN Says Tasers Are a Form of Torture
Found on Slashdot on Saturday, 24 November 2007
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."
It also doesn't help that tasers are advertised as non-lethal devices by the companies producing them. Nobody would believe that argument in a Smith & Wesson brochure. Yet officials still think 50,000 volts and more are anything but dangerous. In the end, there's only one thing left to say: "Don't tase me bro!"