Maximum pain is aim of new US weapon

New Scientist ^ | March 2, 2005 | David Hambling

[battlegearboat]

On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate such a pain?

[Banjoguy]

Very funny.
I was thinking of some kind of sleeping agent.

[roaddog727]

A little pain is WAY BETTER than dead....

[muawiyah]

Well, maybe, unless, of course, you support the aims of the rioters. Then you'd want to knock everybody down just for show, and then to make it relatively easy to pick up your opponents.

Chavez down in Venezuela probably has his eye on this one.

[nuke rocketeer]

A very tiny plasma burst is used.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Oh great, a weapon of mass-torture device.

U.S. Constitution, 8th Amendment: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

This weapons inflicts cruel and unusual punishment on people, both riots and innocent pass-standers for a TWO KM range.

And what happens if a terrorist gets their hands on this weapon and turns is on a major city.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Unless I mention a foreign country, I am always talking about America.

[nuke rocketeer]

Tactical to Practical and a Modern Marvels show featured this very weapon last summer. This is not something new and it has been public for quite some time. Sounds like that group is trying to get some publicity and funding by trying to appear like they have diligently uncovered something really new and menacing from the BUSH administration.

BTW....the B&D types that infest the porno regions probably will be the first civilian users.

[hedgie]

Set phasers on stun.

Thank you for the essential post on this subject...

[muawiyah]

We don't have riots?

And are you telling me that if we did have a riot that Hillary Clinton would let the fact that the rioters were a bunch of Democrats deter her from "trying it out"?

I used Chavez as an example since he's been in the news for firing on a demonstration his own party organized. There's really no difference between him and your typical Liberal anyway ~ think of Robert Byrd.

Someday, if things go right, both of them will be living on the beach in South Florida. May that time come soon.

[spinestein]

[The low-tech option was to get each individual target to marry a Democrat, but that took too long.]


It also caused permanent damage.

[Jaysun]

It concerns so-called Pulsed Energy Projectiles (PEPs), which fire a laser pulse that generates a burst of expanding plasma when it hits something solid, like a person (New Scientist print edition, 12 October 2002). The weapon, destined for use in 2007, could literally knock rioters off their feet.

Cool.

[spinestein]

[OK, I’m no particle physicist – but wouldn’t a burst of plasma burn the heck out of a person? As I understand it, plasma consists of a collection of free-moving electrons and ions - atoms that have lost electrons. This state is maintained only at higher energy levels. If the energy level drops below a certain point, the plasma returns to the state of a neutral gas.
What am I missing?]


You're missing the part about how journalist's are incapable of writing a story that accurately explains anything of a technical nature.

[R. Scott]

If the plasma burst were small enough to not cause a burn, would the charge carried be large enough to cause pain?
Where is a physicist when we need one!

[ken21]

"I am deeply concerned about the ethical aspects of this research," says Andrew Rice, a consultant in pain medicine at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, UK. "Even if the use of temporary severe pain can be justified as a restraining measure, which I do not believe it can, the long-term physical and psychological effects are unknown."

would rice be upset at folks jumping out of windows during 9.11?

[spinestein]

The issue of constitutionality does not apply here because the 8th amendment refers only to judicial process. This is simply a law enforcement device used in situations where there is an immediate threat of public harm (such as a violent riot) and as an option where deadly force might otherwise be used.

As to a terrorist using this as a weapon against a large crowd, give me a break. Terrorists want to KILL PEOPLE not make them uncomfortable.

[Rockingham]

Unlike your microwave in the kitchen, the device is highly directional and generates a precise wavelength tuned to excite pain receptors in human skin. It does not penetrate deeply though and does not have sufficient energy to heat the skin appreciably. Only the pain receptors are affected.

[Onyxx]

Plasma Rifle in the 40 watt range.

[biblewonk]

See Chinese sex torture thread.

[Paul C. Jesup]

The issue of constitutionality does not apply here because the 8th amendment refers only to judicial process. This is simply a law enforcement device used in situations where there is an immediate threat of public harm (such as a violent riot) and as an option where deadly force might otherwise be used.

Didn't you read this article, this weapon can hurt people up to 2km away, far from any riot zone.

As to a terrorist using this as a weapon against a large crowd, give me a break. Terrorists want to KILL PEOPLE not make them uncomfortable.

Terrorists don't want to just kill people, but hurt as many of them as well.

This weapon can literally torture tens of thousands of people at once, it's the perfect terror weapon for both terrorist and tyrants because it can be used to hurt large masses of people over and over again to beat them into submission with pain and the fear of more pain.