Word: meselson
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...would seem possible, of course, for the United States to develop a formula for inexpensive CB weapons without letting the secret out to the public. But once it is known that such a formula exists, people are more likely to have the initiative to duplicate it. Meselson does not carry his argument this far -- he simply implies that if we must have mass annihilators, expensive ones are less undesirable than cheap ones...
...Meselson believes that this argument breaks down when carefully examined. First, he says, one must realize that lethal and non-lethal are poles on a continuous spectrum of the effects of weapons. A weapon which is non-lethal can either temporarily incapacitate (like tear gas) or permanently maim. As long as it does not kill, it is non-lethal...
...lethal CB weapons would serve as an "opening wedge," Meselson fears, to a gradual movement along the spectrum in the direction of kill. This is not just a legal point -- although there are problems of which types of weapons are outlawed by which treaties -- but a practical one as well. The techniques of manufacture, the methods of distribution, and the logistics of employing the devices would be about the same for lethal and non-lethal CB weapons. Meselson says...
...like teaching a boy all there is to know about shooting rubber-tipped arrows from his bow, and expecting him never to try a steel-tipped shaft. Meselson would say that the rubber-tipped arrows are nice, but the steel-tipped ones are more horrible than anything now known. Can you expect a boy to refrain from experimenting, just once...
...There are individuals in every military," Meselson says, "who want to run the whole gamut of weapons." Having non-lethal weapons would not make war less lethal, he asserts. "It is a ridiculous assumption that giving field commanders weapons that don't need to kill means the commanders will not kill. What will happen is that non-lethal weapons will be used in conjunction with killers...