A.C. Thompson
A decade from now, protesters who mass outside a global trade meeting may find themselves zapped by high-voltage land mines, pacified by wafting clouds of tranquilizing drugs, blasted by incapacitating microwaves, or burned by lasers.
All of these weapons – "less-lethal" or "nonlethal" armaments designed to incapacitate without killing – are under development by the U.S. military. With the increasing crossover between soldiering and policing – witness the situations in Afghanistan and Iraq, where troops spend a good chunk of their time acting like beat cops – you should expect the sci-fi-inspired techno-toys the Pentagon is dreaming up today to become standard-issue equipment for U.S. law enforcers tomorrow. In fact, many of the companies engineering the weapons for the Defense Department also supply weaponry to police departments.
Already, dissidents are learning that today's less-lethal weapons can seriously maim or even kill, not to mention quell a demonstration in a matter of seconds. So, with the use of less-lethal force on the rise and scary new weapons in the pipeline, the Bay Guardian figured this was a prime time to take a quick look at the gadgetry used for herding humans – both now, and, possibly, in the future.
