As the stories of police using tasers in lieu of thinking become legion, there can be only one smart move:  invest.  Jonathon Turley posts about the latest taser target:

In Dayton, Ohio, citizens are upset over an incident where a blind woman, Denise Harris, 49, suffering from cancer was tasered by police — apparently while she was on the floor. The police insist that they needed to taser her “to control her hand movement.”

Family and neighbors insist that they told police that she was sick and was afraid. The initial police statements indicate that she was hit with the taser to facilitate cuffing — a very problematic rationale.

The police were reportedly trying to arrest Harris’ son on suspicion of robbery when things got ugly. In fairness, police often face hostile relatives in arrest situations, but it remains unclear why a taser was needed to be used for cuffing a blind cancer-victim (who is also suffering from diabetes).

But that’s just the start of Turley’s post.  Below the fold, he recounts some other pleasantries.

The story will add to the controversial use of tasers as a routine matter by officers, including recent incidents of such use on a disabled man and pregnant mother and an 82-year-old woman and routine ticket violator. This is not to mention the case where the police entered the wrong apartment and then tasered a deaf man who was in his bathtub, here.

The tales of the taser just get weirder and weirder.  The worst fears about tasers are no longer matters of prediction, but history.  It’s just so much easier for a cop to taser someone than reason, calm or behave with some modicum of humanity.  After all, tasers don’t actually do any harm (right?) and they make quick work of subduing those annoying people who just won’t do what they’re told.

This gives rise to two independent thoughts:  First, there are just too many stories of taser abuse to get all worked up about them anymore.  Maybe if they tasered an infant it would raise some interest, but the absurdly inappropriate use of tasers has already become rampant.  It’s gone from dog bites man to who cares. 

Second, any company that can continue to expand its customer base in the face of near-constant bad publicity is a great investment.  Put aside taser international’s problematic hype about how the claims of death by taser are lies spread by criminal-loving lefties bent on destroying the very fabric of American society.  The media has done its very best to bring out tales of police resort to taser when the word “please” would have sufficed.  No senscient being can be unaware that the taser has become the first line of defense against a smart-alecky geriatric.  And it hasn’t made a dent in business.  Not a dent.

Sure, it’s true that a taser does less harm than the slug from a Glock.  But then, most cops would be more reluctant to pull their weapon when a stopped motorist merely asks the question, “why”, than they would to taser the speedy miscreant.  “Why?  I’ll give you why…”  Zap. 

As long as no one is going to be saved, you might as well invest.  At least some good will come from tasers.