Less Lethal Weapons

Less leathal weaponry is very interesting to me, and seems like a preferred method (say, to Kent State Methods, har har) to control crowds.
I recently saw a modified paint ball gun. The paintballs, rather than being filled with paint, were filled with capsacin. Capsacin is the chemical in habenero/jalopeno/et al peppers which make them "hot." It relied on the fact that when you get shot, your instinct is to curl up/fall down when you're shot. So, when the capsacin balls explode on your chest, you get a face full of it - it burns your eyes and lungs...Very neat stuff.

Another thing which I'd seen was a concentrated sound wave - That is, if you're in the "range" or proximity of the beam, you're susceptible to an ear-shattering blast of high-frequency noise; enough to be incapacitated.

Just really neat stuff, not sure if anyone else has seen or heard of the methods being developed by the military and government for crowd control. I know that they're moving away from mass-inducements (ie, tear gas...) because it hits a whole group of people, rather than selective targets.

Yea, like in Minority Report, I think those weapons were non-lethal ...

Originally posted by mauskov
I recently saw a modified paint ball gun. The paintballs, rather than being filled with paint, were filled with capsacin. Capsacin is the chemical in habenero/jalopeno/et al peppers which make them "hot."

Was this on Tactical to Practical. I also thought the pepper balls would be an outstanding idea, however 2 days after I saw the show, a sheriff shot and killed a guy, AFTER they shot him with pepper balls. didn't stop him...he threw a knife at the female sheriff who shot him with the pepper balls, and the male sheriff killed him.


tampatrib.com...

"When deputies arrived at the condo, Trollman reportedly threatened them with kitchen knives in each hand. Zawadski fired her pepper-ball gun at Trollman, releasing a powdery form of the substance found in pepper spray. The pepper balls failed to subdue Trollman. "

I read an article about less lethal weaponry (what a newspeak-esque name!) a while back. And yes, I was privy to that lovely show known as Tactical To Practical

I loved the long-reach taser; the person would get hit and would basically just tip right over. Ridiculous.

The circumstance you're stating, with the officer shooting a suspect anyway...The woman officer was in clear danger (throwing a knife isn't exactly flipping someone the bird; there's genuine physical danger) and the male officer was acting in a way to potentially save her life. But that's another morality lesson; it's merely how I see it.

Less lethal weaponry is really interesting.

There was an article in Wired magazine about jackets which were designed for women which, when grasped tightly (as in a mugging, rape, etc) would emit a 20 000 volt zap to the assailant. Incidentally, I also remember that they only made these jackets for women, as they thought men would use them in street fighting.

The article's here:
www.wired.com...

Have fun!

[Edited on 2-5-2004 by mauskov]

I don't know if you wanted to keep this thread focused on that pepper-paint ball gun or not, but an awsome non leathal wepon out right now is the high power microwave gun. It basically cooks you, and can be "dialed up" in order to be lethal. It is in use in Iraq as we speak

Originally posted by American Mad Man
I don't know if you wanted to keep this thread focused on that pepper-paint ball gun or not, but an awsome non leathal wepon out right now is the high power microwave gun. It basically cooks you, and can be "dialed up" in order to be lethal. It is in use in Iraq as we speak

How ridiculously cool.
Err...Hot? Heh.

The development of less lethal weaponry is surely a brick on the road to total populace control. I like to, however conspiracy whackjob it may be, toy with the idea that eventually a non-lethal weapon will be a weapon which is abble to disrupt brainwave patterns. How Star Trek is that, eh eh. It's basically a method to "hack" the human body, I suppose.

Originally posted by mauskov

Originally posted by American Mad Man
I don't know if you wanted to keep this thread focused on that pepper-paint ball gun or not, but an awsome non leathal wepon out right now is the high power microwave gun. It basically cooks you, and can be "dialed up" in order to be lethal. It is in use in Iraq as we speak

How ridiculously cool.
Err...Hot? Heh.

The development of less lethal weaponry is surely a brick on the road to total populace control. I like to, however conspiracy whackjob it may be, toy with the idea that eventually a non-lethal weapon will be a weapon which is abble to disrupt brainwave patterns. How Star Trek is that, eh eh. It's basically a method to "hack" the human body, I suppose.

I agree on the population control - soon, world powers will be able to fight wars (against lesser foes) by simply "zapping" whole cities into submission.

Along those lines:

SOUTH POMFRET, Vt. � Marines arriving in Iraq this month as part of a massive troop rotation will bring with them a high-tech weapon never before used in combat � or in peacekeeping. The device is a powerful megaphone the size of a satellite dish that can deliver recorded warnings in Arabic and, on command, emit a piercing tone so excruciating to humans, its boosters say, that it causes crowds to disperse, clears buildings and repels intruders.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

As for the "hack the human mind" idea - there are many people on this site (myself NOT included) that believe there is one such device in Alaska called called H.A.A.R.P.

According to ATS, there is already a patent (#5,159,703) for mind control audio devices.

A silent communications system in which nonaural carriers, in the very low or very high audio-frequency range or in the adjacent ultrasonic frequency spectrum are amplitude- or frequency-modulated with the desired intelligence and propagated acoustically or vibrationally, for inducement into the brain, typically through the use of loudspeakers, earphones, or piezoelectric transducers. The modulated carriers may be transmitted directly in real time or may be conveniently recorded and stored on mechanical, magnetic, or optical media for delayed or repeated transmission to the listener.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

A silent communications system in which nonaural carriers, in the very low or very high audio-frequency range or in the adjacent ultrasonic frequency spectrum are amplitude- or frequency-modulated with the desired intelligence and propagated acoustically or vibrationally, for inducement into the brain, typically through the use of loudspeakers, earphones, or piezoelectric transducers. The modulated carriers may be transmitted directly in real time or may be conveniently recorded and stored on mechanical, magnetic, or optical media for delayed or repeated transmission to the listener.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with "Communion" by Whitley Strieber. I finished it about two weeks ago, and he discusses the possiblity of many abductee's experiences being based on aural stimulus: High/Low range frequencies of sound which are not conciously perceptible, but have interference patterns with the functioning of your brain.

He uses this as speculation for why many abductees report verbatim circumstances: That this frequency is the resonance frequency of "thought" (human brain). Thus, when exposed to these noises, certain perceptions are stimulated. Kinda neat.

[Edited on 2-5-2004 by mauskov]