I have no words to express how queasy this makes me feel:
The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which is expected to receive more than 140,000 visitors this week, is no stranger to bizarre gadgets but the iTaser - as it has been dubbed - must rank as one of the oddest. It combines a Taser stun gun, used by 12,000 law enforcement and security forces, including the Metropolitan police, with an MP3 player and earphones.
As to which tracks anyone toting such a device might download on to the 1GB player that is integrated into the gun’s holster, anything by Sparks or Frank Zappa must be fairly high on the list.
Arizona-based Taser International sells the handheld stun guns under the rather hyperbolic banner of “Changing the World and Protecting Lives”. It maintains that the iTaser “allows for both personal protection and personal music for people on the go”.
According to Rick Smith, founder of the company, “personal protection can be both fashionable and functionable”.
The company says the new device is particularly aimed at women - with red, pink and even leopard print designs intended to make carrying a stun gun fashionable. A spokesman in Las Vegas said the inclusion of a music player would encourage purchases by women who want a form of self defense while out jogging, but would otherwise choose to take an iPod or other MP3 player with them instead of a weapon.
And the odd thing is that I’m all for gun rights. I believe that people should be able to arm and defend themselves against whatever (even though, yes, this means that eventually some assclown is going to do something reprehensible like mug an old lady at gunpoint), but Tasers to me seem like a whole different breed of weapon. Maybe it’s because I read so many reports about how eager cops are to use them: stunning deaf people or yoga instructors or people who are in submissive positions instead of talking to de-escalating the situation. It’s as though as a “non-lethal” weapon, Tasers are the de rigueur first response to any situation, threatening or no. It’s the lack of judicious use - less judicious than gun use - that worries me - and making them a fashion item? Giving them a “cute factor” so they seem even more “non-lethal”.. tacky. Just tacky. And, really, is “functionable” somehow different from “functional”?
–from CommonDreams by way of It All Goes here and Taser of the Day.
