pokoko said:
Oh, you have got to be kidding. That's all it did, huh? It dispersed them? That is one of the more amazing down-plays I've ever seen in my life. People couldn't breathe and they were merely dispersed? Go head with it, man, you do what you need to do to fit everything into your political viewpoint. I just wanted to show that pepper spray has downside as well as upside, which is true of any form of weapon. Why anyone would deny that, I do not understand. However, since you wanted it: December, 1993, Chicago: an unidentified person forced a school to evacuate after running through the hallways dispersing an entire canister of pepper spray. In March 2003, Chicago: two mothers were arrested after the school their children attended had to be evacuated. The evacuation resulted from the two women feuding inside the school with pepper spray. 2007, FL – Astronaut and Feminist poster-girl Lisa Nowak confessed to lesser charges as part of a plea bargain in the attempted kidnapping and murder of Colleen Shipman. Nowak’s arsenal in the crime included pepper spray, an item Shipman testified that Nowak sprayed threw into her car window at the Orlando Airport. September, 2010, a Topeka: woman was charged with five counts of aggravated battery after allegedly pepper spraying several individuals June, 2011, Malta: a 76-year old man was pepper sprayed as he tempted to fend himself against two muggers. June, 2011, Maryland: a 28 year old woman was taken into custody after she began taking photographs of a pregnant woman without permission. The ensuing argument resulted in the pregnant woman being pepper sprayed. August, 2011: Abingdon, PA: a woman was victimized with pepper spray during a home invasion when two teens broke into her residence. The victim was not only a 77-year old senior but also a Holocaust survivor. August, 2011, Brooksville, FL: 22-year old Danitra Hicks was arrested for driving to her cousin’s home and pepper spraying her. Hicks’ anger was attributed to a Facebook feud the two that had had earlier in the day. Sept. 2011, Redcliffe, W. Australia: a former cop was charged for the assault of a man and of subsequently falsifying official documents about the incident. The cop was accused of having pepper sprayed the victim and dousing him with beer. October, 2011, Mesa, AR: more than fifty people had to be evacuated from a psychiatric hospital when police thought using pepper spray would lure a runaway patient out of an air vent. The fumes from the spray traveled through the vent and into every room on the floor of the hospital. Ongoing, Norfolk, VA: security guards hired by the Norfolk school district have been equipped with pepper spray since 1997. Despite a slew of complaints from parents the school officials are determined to continue the practice, even after an October incident when a female security guard blasted away to break up a food fight in one cafeteria. In this occasion the pepper spray hit several children not even involved in the food fight and sending all students in the cafeteria to the school nurse, and a few to the emergency room for inflammation of their asthma. http://hubpages.com/politics/The-escalating-misuse-of-pepepr-spray |
That's it, pitch a fit, classic pokoko. My choice of words was poor but it beats having a pathetic argument backed up by such a poor example. The patrons couldn't breathe because of the mace, did they suffocate? No, they died because they were trampled which is a common occurance in overcrowded nightclubs. If all you can provide are examples of individuals misusing tear gases and disrupting gatherings or as part of physical attacks I can honestly say that you have done virtually nothing to justify government enforced bans on these sprays. I know exactly why it took so much to force you to provide further examples of the misuse of tear gases, because they are rather unimpressive. I know that getting maced will cause you agony, disable you for hours or days and make buildings uninhabitable. I'm not downplaying their potency. What I am downplaying is their lethality. Tear gases are not fatal unless you use them in a situation which would have resulted in death regardless (such as the nightclub example you provided). I don't think I could have cleared out that school (without burning it to the ground) but so what, you still haven't given me a compelling reason for their ban. I once again have to reiterate my point that tear gases make great defensive, non-lethal weapons that should be legally carried because they can be used to prevent violent attacks with minimal harm to the perpetrators. I want you to give me a compelling reason as to why they should be restricted let alone outlawed outright because isolated cases of their misuse resulting in disruption and non-life-threatening injuries isn't cutting it. Tear gases are a tool which can prevent attacks that actually threaten the lives of victims, attacks that I might add are not being prevented by the government in many instances. I apologize for my lack of organization / paragraphs but I hardly care anymore.
