Poll on Banning Tasers [isf23] Digest Number 2206

The link to this poll was not included in this message. The Costco publication can be found at http://www.costcoconnection.ca/connectioncaeng/20090102/?u1=texterity. This does not take you directly to the poll, which is on Page 15, but if you click on the "Search" tab and enter "Taser", it brings up several pages including page 15, which you can click on to get to the poll (then just click on the button on the right where it says "Click here to vote").

  Below the "Click here to vote" link is a link you can click on to leave a comment. I encourage you to let Costco know that their poll question is badly worded, and should refer specifically to whether or not *police officers* should be allowed to carry Tasers, not whether the weapons should be banned entirely, since the controversy is mainly over their inappropriate use by officers. Here's the comment I sent them:

I don't think Tasers should be banned, but police officers should not be using them in the line of duty. It is their job to use a minimum of force and avoid endangering members of the public, even suspects, because even a suspect is INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY, and the fact that this may mean putting themselves in harm's way does not make their responsibility go away. Police officers armed with Tasers have repeatedly demonstrated that they will use the weapons inappropriately, in situations that could have been resolved without escalating to that level of force.

Members of the public, however, may be less physically able to protect themselves than trained police officers, and often do not carry guns as police officers do. For them, a Taser may be an important means of self-defense, and they should not be denied this ability to protect themselves -- especially since the police often do not arrive promptly when called, and courts (in the U.S.) have unfortunately ruled that the police do not have an obligation to prevent crime.

Love & Liberty,
        ((( starchild )))

On Jan 17, 2009, at 9:34 AM, isf23@yahoogroups.com wrote (in part):