Christmas came early for the cops in America...

[kentuck]

They all got their new toys - brand new Tasers. They couldn't wait to run out on the streets to use them. As their mothers used to warn them to not shoot themselves in the eye, they did not hear as they rushed into the street to try out their new toy gun.

Now, we are in the midst of a Taser epidemic where people are being shot and killed by these new "toys". More Americans are dying from these "toys" than are being shot by their weapons, which were issued to them to protect themselves and the rest of society.

It is past time to take these "toys" back. It is time for Congress to investigate the misuse of these "toys" and to get them out of the hands of those not competent to use them or those that simply want to see their victims scream and writhe in pain. It is a dangerous epidemic.

[BobRossi]

1. And the alternative is...

Just shoot the perps?

[Richard Steele]

2. False choice. The REAL alternative is: "don't shoot anyone who doesn't need to be shot".

[BobRossi]

3. Who decides whom needs to be shot?

How does an officer protect herself from a drugged up idiot hell-bent on avoiding arrest?

[Richard Steele]

4. Strawman. When you're willing to stick to the subject at hand, get back to me. nm

[kentuck]

5. The folks being tasered are not "drugged up idots"...

They break into the wrong houses and taser suspects. They taser deaf people. They taser pregnant women. They taser children. They taser innocents. Have you been following this issue?

[ret5hd]

6. Or a 90 yr old woman. Or a pregnant woman.

or a kid playing guitar on the sidewalk.

You authoritarian pucks are as disgusting as the cops you love.

[MadHound]

7. They need to take tasers out of the hands of cops,

Law enforcement has demonstrated that they cannot use them properly or responsibly. Originally intended as the next to last resort, instead they are becoming, for many cops, the first thing that they reach for. Got a loudmouth on your hands? Taser 'em! Got somebody who refuses to sign a ticket(which is legal in many or most states)? Taser 'em! Got somebody screaming at you because you mistakenly broke into their house? Taser 'em! Got somebody quoting the Constitution? Taser 'em!

Tasers have become the favorite playtoys of the cops because they are "non-lethal" and can be used to enforce the cop's will. Thus they get pulled out not when there is any sort of danger, but when a person dares to disagree or talk back to a cop. At least with guns you had the sheer lethality of the weapon that prevented, most of the time, the cop from casually using it. Tasers though are, for the most part, non-lethal and thus are used at the drop of a hat.

Get them out of police hands, they have more than demonstrated they're unfit to use them.

[kentuck]

8. And more people are dying from tasers than police bullets.

Innocent people - not hard-core criminals.

[Wcross]

9. I prefer they do it old school......

A good old fashioned ass whoopin with a billy club beats getting tasered. Just ask Rodney King.

[ret5hd]

10. Well, at least when they use a billy club...

they have to put the donut down and get off their fat @ss and break a sweat.

That right there cuts down on the incidents where they are used.

[Wcross]

11. True enough.

Makes them think twice I guess.