Tasers

I have to admit that I'd heard of a taser gun before, but honestly I'd just thought it was something someone had made up for a prop in a movie. It sounds like something an alien would use on humans to render us helpless and serve them on their home planet...I'm glad that I know what it is now so I don't sound stupid if the topic comes up sometime in the future.

Annie's speech was informative for me (obviously!), and it brought to light a problem I didn't even know was up for debate. The dialogue between Annie and the class after her speech strengthened what she'd already said because Professor Fishman has firsthand experience and, therefore, an opinion! I'm curious now what the correllation is between the stun gun and the taser gun, or are they the same thing? If I'm supposed to know, please don't hold it against me.

The debate Annie brought up is touchy - real touchy. There are governments whose police murder citizens, and we certainly don't want to be one of those governments. The question is, where's the line? With a gun the line had better be close, because the stakes are high. If a police officer kills a person without a very good reason, an innocent person is dead and that officer is in serious trouble. In England I'm pretty sure that police officers aren't allowed to carry guns - because nobody else is allowed to, either. Maybe it's because I'm used to it - it must be - but I feel a lot better knowing our police officers are allowed to carry lethal weapons.

We touched on the cons of the taser gun, too - that a gun which doesn't do any permanent damage to a person could be all too easily misused. I think there's equal responsibility with carrying a taser gun to carrying the standard-issue gun, knowing what I know. Annie's speech was very convincing, but I don't feel I can say yet whether or not I agree with her because I don't have enough background in the other side yet. But based on what was presented, and especially after knowing what conditions a police officer was allowed to fire a gun under, it seems to be a very logical and humane choice to switch over to the taser gun.