thursday idea blog #4

the weapons/devices/mechanisms of repression

Some things already seen and yet to be used in pittsburgh during this latest round of protest and repression

LRAD (long range acoustic device)
generally mounted on a vehicle these devices produce a sharp loud noise that can lead to permanent hearing loss if you are too close

extendable and fixed batons
made of steel in the extendable version, wood and other plastic coated metal materials

CS/CN gas
also known as tear gas. this is a weapon developed for chemical warfare regularly used on protesters in the united states. It may surprise some to learn that for the military to use this same weapon it requires a direct order signed from the president to deploy. the long term effects of this weapon are unknown any medical studies are unavailable to the public as it is a weapon not a medically approved substance.

Mace/Pepper spray (OC)
oil based, and spread by contact with water. creates intense burning where ever it makes contact with the uncovered body. inhalation can lead to serious injury if compounded with asthma or other respiratory issues. If not removed within hours of contact burns up to 2nd degree can develop on the effected areas of the body.
International Association of Chiefs of Police suggested at least 113 pepper spray related fatalities had occurred in the United States

Hand cuffs
metal, standard police equipment

Quick Cuffs
nylon or other plastic material, do not have double lock device. in regular handcuffs a double lock is employed to prevent the further tightening of applied cuffs. there is a higher risk of nerve damage and soft tissue damage

less lethal munitions
rubber bullets, "bean bag" baton rounds, wooden dowel rounds, wax rounds. plastic electroshock delivering rounds


the following is from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Less-lethal_weapon#Safety.2C_effects.2C_and_legal_status

Safety, effects, and legal status
In the United States of America, the University of Texas-Austin Institute for Advanced Technology (IAT) conducts basic research to advance electrodynamics and hypervelocity physics related to electromagnetic weapons.[9] Generally considered 'non-lethal weapons', electromagnetic weaponry do however pose health threats to humans. In fact, "non-lethal weapons can sometimes be deadly."[10]
Department of Defense policy explicitly states that non-lethal weapons "shall not be required to have a zero probability of producing fatalities or permanent injuries."[11] Although a Human Effects Advisory Panel was established in 1998 to provide independent assessment on human effects, data, and models for the use of 'non-lethal weapons' on the general population,[12] the TECOM Technology Symposium in 1997 concluded on non-lethal weapons, “Determining the target effects on personnel is the greatest challenge to the testing community,” primarily because "the potential of injury and death severely limits human tests." However, "directed energy weapons that target the central nervous system and cause neurophysiological disorders may violate the Certain Conventional Weapons Convention of 1980. And weapons that go beyond non-lethal intentions and cause “superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering” could violate the Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1977."[13]
Some common bio-effects of electromagnetic or non-lethal weapons include affects to the human central nervous system resulting in physical pain, difficulty breathing, vertigo, nausea, disorientation, or other systemic discomfort. Interference with breathing poses the most significant, potentially lethal results. Light and repetitive visual signals can induce epileptic seizures (called the Bucha effect). Vection and motion sickness can also occur.
Project Pandora, conducted by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, WRAIR, included externally induced auditory input from pulsed microwave audiograms of words or oral sounds which create the effect of hearing voices that are not a part of the recipients own thought processes. Microwave pulses can also affect the epidermis (skin) and dermis, the thick sensitive layer of skin and connective tissue beneath the epidermis that contains blood, lymph vessels, sweat glands, and nerve endings, generating a burn from as far as 700 yards.[14]