[samtheman]

Why not just let travelling law-enforcement officers carry their concealed weapons on any flight they take? We don't need James Bond gimmicks when plain common sense will do.

[Frohickey]

I could see the lawsuits now of people who lose their hearing from one of these things.

What if the hijackers put on those ear muffs or foam ear protectors?

Just let law enforcement and citizens who have passed background checks and training carry weapons concealed. Only way to defeat terrorism is by decentralizing security. I bet the Borg never had one of their cubes hijacked. ;)

[gcruse]

If we weren't so busy ignoring Israeli experience with terrorism, we might learn that El Al security guards use something ear plugs won't stop.....low powder load bullets that will kill a terrorist, but no penetrate the aircraft hull.

[LJLucido]

There are some kids down the street from me that already have one of those installed in their car.

[Myrddin]

A .44 magnum makes a 170 dB sound pulse and you get some lead along with it.

[niteowl77]

It doesn't sound (pun intended) too far-fetched. I used to dabble quite a bit with air horns and whistles (railroad, marine and industrial), and testing some of them would produce nausea - not mild nausea, either - for about fifteen minutes unless I used both plugs and earmuffs... even that didn't always work.

Ed

[VaBthang4]

Pentagon considers ear-blasting anti-hijack gun

Weapons that fire high-intensity "sonic bullets" could be used by sky marshals to incapacitate terrorists who try to hijack passenger aircraft. The US Department of Defense is assessing the technology following the attacks on 11 September.

The title is misleading...the pentagon doesnt have anything to do with considering anything with an anti-hijacking capacity.

They are just looking at different types of weapons period.

This is somebody's way of trying to connect the dots in order to make a story connected to Terrorism.

[eggman]

Norris's device, which he calls a "directed stick radiator", is encased in a tube made of a polymer composite, around a metre long and four centimetres in diameter.

Okay, where would you put this thing? It wouldn't fit in a carry-on bag and, if the air marshall is carrying that around, it would be pretty obvious to the terrorists who they would need to take out.

Q, this one needs a little work yet before it's ready for 007.

[steve-b]

around a metre long and four centimetres in diameter

Oh, yeah, that sounds like it would be a really useful weapon inside an aircraft cabin.

[ffrancone]

So the hijackers would wear earplugs. This is a silly idea.

[glc1173@aol.com]

""It shoots out a pulse of sound that's almost like a bullet," says Norris. "It's over 140 decibels for a second or two."" (New Scientist)

I wonder how many of us have been "incapacitated" - at all - from even-louder noise from shooting .308 rifles or 12-gauge shotguns.

This is a sick joke. If repeatedly shooting a "noise source" that is that loud at the shooter's ear doesn't "incapacitate" us, how the hell will this gizmo "incapacitate" skyjackers?

[spanky_mcfarland]

I had some similar ill effects following an attemt to listen to a Yoko Ono CD.