I am a firm believer that every responsible, able-bodied, law abiding citizen having the right, if not the responsibility, to carry some form of non-lethal self defense on them at almost all times. A college student on campus is certainly no exception but I do feel that special care and consideration be used when deciding just which tool of self defense be considered. And to some degree which students should be allowed to carry such tools.
First of all lets get this out of the way. If you have ever in your life been convicted of a crime than you are out of luck. I don’t think you should be allowed to carry any self defense weapons. Not pepper spray, not mace, not a stun device, nothing. You have proven through your prior actions that at some point in your life (and if you’re a college student it had to be somewhat recently) that you have the ability practice extremely poor judgment. I don’t want you carrying anything that could be used as a weapon or hurting someone accidentally because you are a numb-skull that doesn’t know how to handle such weapons in a responsible and safe manner.
For the responsible college student, especially females who find themselves walking on campus alone at night, I suggest a defensive spray. Stun devices, especially tasers, are a very touchy subject and for good reason. They are dangerous and in some rare cases have proven fatal. That concerns me greatly and I won’t lie when I say I am conflicted when asked if I think college students should be able to carry tasers as a means of self defense.
Lets first explain just what a taser is. A taser is a stun device that works by shooting barbs, attached to wires, from the device. These barbs embed themselves into the assailants skin (or clothes) and a non-lethal, high voltage current of electricity is passed through the wires, into the assailants body causing the assailant to lose neuromuscular control, hence rendering them incapable of further attack. That sounds as humane a treatment as any attacker deserves in my opinion.
The problem is would be in deciding which students would be allowed to carry tasers. I would have to admit that the majority of guys I hung out with in college should not have had tasers and I’m glad they didn’t. I’m still friends with many of them. I’m not saying these kids were bad people but just a little goofy and didn’t aways practice the best judgment at all times, as was the case with so many of us in college. I could just see one of these guys drunkenly asking to be tased as a sign of his drunken manliness. They didn’t have criminal records though so if we were to make a clean criminal past be the only prerequisite for carrying a taser these kids would be greenlit to carry tasers and then trouble would naturally ensue. It would just be too difficult to give the right to some and not to others.
What about the 18 year ol female walking on the campus at night though? I firmly beleive she should have the right, and the obligation to herself and those that love her, to carry something to defend herself with. Pepper spray works wonderfully in stopping an attack and is non-lethal. A stun device like a stun gun works just as well if not better. I am talking about a stun gun now not a taser. A stun gun does not project anything. It simply needs to make contact with the attacker to do it’s job. Other than that it’s basically the same thing as a taser. Why I think a stun gun is more acceptable than a taser for a colllege student has much to do with the whole projectile aspect of the weapons.
As a distributor of non-lethal weapons I am almost embarrased that I’m not more decisive about the subject of tasers on campus but it is just a very delicate subject that one should remain open minded about and consider all angles and ramifications of before making a decision to buy a taser for a college student.
Stay Safe.
Puzek Security Systems
No comments:
Post a Comment