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Shoot To Not Kill
from the non-lethal-weapons dept
Popular Science takes a look at (and has their reporter test) some of the latest military efforts to create non-lethal weapons. The article also does a good job pointing out that there may be plenty of unintended consequences from such weapons - which has many people worried. For instance, some are afraid that with such non-lethal weapons, people may be much more willing to use them, leading to more regular military actions, instead of saving them as "worst case" options.
Reader Comments
(Flattened / Threaded)
Cultural pendulum
Until about 30 years ago, people hit or slapped each other much more casually, a la Three Stooges style. We've since become a culture of lawsuits and ultra-violent movies where everyone feels much more queasy about violence, in which a punch is assumed to lead to murder. Due to the lack of release valves, it leads to more episodes of pent-up anger that is released in shooting rampages.
If we have technology that guarantees nonlethal pain, then we may shift back towards a culture in which people hit each other more casually.
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Re: Cultural pendulum
...oh you mean like Thomas Edison being boxed
about the head and ears for falling a sleep on
telegraph duty...
...Yeah, I'd like my boss to be able to beat me
when he feels I'm not doing my job and, obviously,
you would too...
What are you? A cultrual ludite who wants to
bring back the bad old days?
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Stopping Power
Incidentally, the notion of law enforcement's "shoot to kill" is a common public misconception. Law enforcement talks about "stopping power". "Shoot to kill" is military.
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Re: Stopping Power
Stopping Power == Shoot to Kill
Police training is very specific... If you feel
that you're going to be threatened with physical
harm that could lead to your death, empty the
clip.
Every year there are several cases that bring
the training our "Peace Office" recieve to the
surface. These include the two office who did
empty their clips into a chair wielding man and
the guy in NYC who had an entire revolver load
empted into him for showing his wallet.
It doesn't help that officers are armed, hence
the tendancy to escalate any physical
confrentation into a police shooting. My rule
of thumb is to keep hands in plane site and
below my waste, explaining where and why I am
going to move them, whenever dealing with a
police officer.
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Re: Stopping Power
Our doctrine teaches only shoot to prevent or stop the suspect from performing the action that caused you to shoot in the first place. Take a look at the use of force model, AFI 31-204 (Arming use of Force). War is different of course, most of the time you shoot at anything that shoots at you, for preservation of your life and the protection of you friends. Most of the military only shoots when shot at. Yes, some of the Special Forces actually seek to destroy, however, I have seen restraint even in those situations. Only eliminate the targets that will try to eliminate you. If they have a gun, yes, in those situations they will kill them. Shoot to kill is not accurate, Shoot to disable is better and yes "center of mass", is the target "Aim small, miss small", right? The goal is to take them out of the fight so that the critical objective is accomplished. Not necessarily to kill.
EJK
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Lethal vs non-Lethal
Compare plice use of Pepper Spray vs Pistols. I know a cop or two (okay, they're married) and I know they go through a LOT more pepper than bullets.
I agree that they'd be a lot more willing to use them, even though I also agree that the US is suffering from the fact that it churns out three times as many lawyers per capita than any other G7+1 country.
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troopers love "non-leathal" force...
All you really need to do is watch what the
Isralies do with non-leathal force. It's amazing
how much damage you can actually inflict if
you're a very good marksman or use the device in
unexpected ways.
Once non-leathal becomes instutionalized, an
ever increasing death rate from the application
of "non-leathal" force follows.
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Re: troopers love "non-leathal" force...
not kil
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