DAVID EGGERT
AP
Monday, December 18, 2006
LANSING -- A little-noticed bill that would let more people
use Tasers and stun guns in Michigan is awaiting Gov. Jennifer
Granholm's likely signature, though critics hope she wields her
veto pen.
The legislation approved by the state Senate 30-7 last week and
passed unanimously by the House in September would exempt detention
facilities and private security officers at some hospitals and
malls from a ban against using stun guns. Police officers and
others in law enforcement have been able to carry the weapons
since 2002.
Stun guns and Tasers -- a police favorite because they can be
fired from a distance -- temporarily disable people with electric
shocks and are billed as a safer way to subdue combative suspects.
But some question Taser-related deaths and worry the technology
is used too routinely, not as a last resort.
"I'm not convinced they're so benign," says Sen. Liz
Brater, an Ann Arbor Democrat who voted against the bill along
with five other Democrats and a Republican. "They're being
presented as if they're some kind of water pistol or something.
That's not what they are."
The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Rick Jones of Grand Ledge,
responds that Tasers are a safer and better alternative to firing
a gun. He says he could even support letting civilians carry Tasers
if they have a concealed weapons permit.
"There will always be critics of any device," says
Jones, a former sheriff in Eaton County, west of Lansing.
He argues that pepper spray, rubber bullets and other devices
aren't perfect, either.
"It is important to give both police officers and corrections
officers all the possible non-lethal options," Jones says.
Tasers fire barbs that can pierce the skin to deliver a 50,000-volt
shock causing muscles to lock up.
In a March report, human rights group Amnesty International said
it had logged more than 150 deaths involving Tasers across the
country in the previous five years.
The rise in deaths, however, accompanied an increase in the number
of law enforcement agencies using devices made by Taser International
Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz. About 1,000 of the nation's 18,000 police
agencies used Tasers in 2001; 9,800 departments have them now.
Amnesty International is urging police departments to suspend
the use of Tasers pending more independent study.
Dori Dinsmore, director of Amnesty's Midwest office, says her
group isn't inherently against Tasers and supports the use of
non-lethal weapons. But she worries about a lack of oversight
when security officers are allowed to carry Tasers.
"Police departments are accountable to their communities,"
Dinsmore says, adding that citizens can meet with police chiefs
and press for investigations involving deadly uses of Tasers.
"Who's going to hold the private firms or civilian officers
accountable?"
Taser chairman and co-founder Tom Smith says Tasers' benefits
far outweigh their risks.
They give private security officers in other states a non-lethal
alternative in crowded settings like malls and emergency rooms,
reduce injuries to police officers and suspects, and decrease
worker compensation claims, according to Smith. He notes that
43 states impose no restrictions on Tasers and let civilians buy
them.
Smith says that of the 500,000 times Tasers have been used in
demonstrations, training and in the field, they were deemed a
contributing factor in 25 to 30 deaths. Many deaths involved a
violent struggle with police in which the suspect was overweight,
addicted to drugs, mentally ill or had a bad heart, Smith says.
Opponents of the legislation insist Tasers can exacerbate preexisting
health conditions and are fired too many times at unarmed men
with deadly consequences.
The bill says only those trained in the use, effects and risks
of electro-muscular disruption devices could use them.
"We're supportive of the bill because it includes safety
precautions," says Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd.
Stun guns and Tasers were mostly banned in Michigan until 2002,
when lawmakers created an exception for police officers and security
officers in prisons, courts and probation departments. A 2004
law lets county jail officers use Tasers, but the latest bill
was introduced because officials felt city lockup centers were
inadvertently overlooked.
The measure also would let officers at nine licensed private
security agencies use Tasers, though it's unclear whether they
actually will.
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