Reply #33: Apparently I wasn't clear enough before....

[DeSwiss]

So I'll repeat:

I'm an idealist in most matters and I was not attempting to say that in the world as it has evolved, that arms have no place in it. I simply would prefer that they didn't.

So obviously the answer is NONE. Although dart guns and rifles are used with sedatives to fell wild animals. But I suppose that technology's development was limited to all the other beasts though. But maybe it's a start?

Death by Taser: The Killer Alternative to Guns
This article is especially relevant given the recent unwarranted and brutal taser attack on a UCLA student. The video to the right is the taped recording of the attack this week.

By Silja J.A. Talvi, In These Times.
Posted November 18, 2006.

Long touted as a safer alternative to handguns for law enforcement, tasers are potentially deadly weapons that have a growing history of abuse by police and security guards. Taser International Inc. maintains that its stun-guns are "changing the world and saving lives everyday." There is no question that they changed Jack Wilson's life. On Aug. 4, in Lafayette, Colo., policemen on a stakeout approached Jack's son Ryan as he entered a field of a dozen young marijuana plants. When Ryan took off running, officer John Harris pursued the 22-year-old for a half-mile and then shot him once with an X-26 Taser. Ryan fell to the ground and began to convulse. The officer attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but Ryan died.

According to his family and friends, Ryan was in very good physical shape. The county coroner found no evidence of alcohol or drugs in his system and ruled that Ryan's death could be attributed to the Taser shock, physical exertion from the chase and the fact that one of his heart arteries was unusually small. In October, an internal investigation cleared Officer Harris of any wrongdoing and concluded that he had used appropriate force.

Wilson says that while his son had had brushes with the law as a juvenile and struggled financially, he was a gentle and sensitive young man who always looked out for his disabled younger brother's welfare, and was trying to better his job prospects by becoming a plumber's apprentice. "Ryan was not a defiant kid," says his father. "I don't understand why the cop would chase him for a half-mile, and then 'Tase' him while he had an elevated heart rate. If hadn't done that, we know that he would still be alive today."

Ryan is one of nearly 200 people who have died in the last five years after being shot by a Taser stun gun. In June, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would review these deaths.

Read more: http://www.alternet.org/story/44455/