Tasers…
Yep, tasers. The electric disruption devices used by law enforcement, security personnel, and are unrestricted for ownership in most states with little ill effect, are apparently going to cause a shocking change (pun absolutely intended) to the behavior of Hawaii residents who will now be able to legally possess and carry such a device, like most of the nation already can…
So evidence says this is a non-issue… Lots and lots of evidence. Something like several hundred million people with this legal ability already.
Will there be some misuse? Absolutely. What hasn’t been misused by humanity? What device or rule that can be exploited hasn’t been?
Name one?
I will wait.
Hawaii’s prohibition on such devices did not prevent them, even on an island, from being carried and used. Prohibitions never do, they just impose a harsh penalty for doing so if caught. Ending the prohibition, just like other rule changes in other states, is not going to drastically alter the behavior of your residents. How many criminal cases were make or break in Hawaii on possession of a disruptor being illegal?
Hawaii continues to be a very safe state, with a much lower violent crime rate, that actually fell in 2020 by about 11%, than the nation as a whole. Funny how not having a major urban sprawl and a a population about half that of Chicago (not including the surrounding areas) in a wonderful climate makes for a fairly content populous. Their per capita income is a little higher too, another note factor that makes Hawaii a pretty chill spot.
What about that makeup suddenly makes the police believe the state is going to run amok with taser crimes now that tasers are legal to carry? The people you most need to worry about are the ones who already have them, and probably illegally carry other more lethal tools too. But no, let’s promise that HPD are ‘Gearing Up’ for tasers in January.
Gearing up with what? Rubber suits? Insulated uniforms so they don’t get shocked? How does one ‘gear up’ beyond a bulletin saying that electronic neuromuscular disruptors are now legal to possess and carry, so don’t arrest anyone? Your gear up is a memo. What was the incident rate of officers encountering taser armed folks? What was the incident rate of officers encountering folks armed otherwise? What was their negative outcome rate? What is the projected change for allowing the law abiding to abide by the law carrying disruptors? Criminally assaulting somebody with it is still going to be a crime, just without the extra crime of illegal possession. How does that negatively impact an assault case that you cannot add an illegal possession charge?
These are many questions that come to mind when I hear about cops ‘Gearing Up’ for a non-issue item in many other locations. The same thing that has campus officials losing their minds if concealed carry is permitted upon their hallowed halls of learning causes these reactions. It is pouting, it’s just official pouting and ass covering if a negative effect occurs. But if a negative outcome, like a sexual assault let us say, that could reasonably have been prevented and defended against by a person armed were to happen these people will point to their blue light campus phones and policies that say ‘Remember, Rape Bad. Don’t Do’ as being the best they can do for their campuses.
God forbid someone be empowered to defend their life with the one thing that can absolutely turn the tide, the ability to take the attacker’s.
