Word: stun-gun
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Four suspects were arraigned yesterday on charges ranging from assault with intent to murder to unlawful possession of a stun-gun in connection with the Friday night shooting in Harvard Square, according to Cambridge police detective Frank Pasquarello...
...will gain an appreciation of the silly from which you may never recover. You may begin to collect windup toys at airports, catalogs of exotic nightwear, and unemployment ads for stun-gun salesmen...
...Antonio a sheriff's lieutenant was just sentenced to two years' probation for repeatedly zapping a handcuffed suspect last summer. In April in Dallas, another worry of stun-gun critics became reality when a pair of robbers used one to disable a clerk in a Safeway supermarket. In Los Angeles, the county coroner is investigating the death four weeks ago of a suspected PCP drug user who was zapped by police. It was the second such fatality in two years, though PCP is considered more likely to have been responsible for the deaths than the zappings...
This string of incidents has stun-gun manufacturers on the defensive, though sales continue to soar. If the alleged police assailants had not had stun guns, "a traditional method--burning cigarettes or whatever--would have been used," argues James McCourt of Nova Technologies. Nova has sold more than 100,000 of its $85 XR-5000s in the past two years. The lightweight 6-in. shock stick is powered by a nine-volt rechargeable battery. When triggered while pressed against a person's body, it sends out 50,000 volts but, Nova claims, just .00006 of an amp, a tiny fraction...
...shoots darts), and its sale is somewhat restricted by federal law, while a handful of states have tougher rules that ban both Tasers and Novas, or limit them to police. Many civil libertarians are cautious supporters of stun guns on the ground that police are more likely to injure suspects with a gun or a nightstick. But the new charges of stun-gun abuse have sharpened their concerns. "The risks are the same as the advantages," answers Greg Thomas, a Washington police researcher. "It all comes back to the judgment and discretion of the officer...