Maybe you should READ that again. NON-LETHAL weapons.

I doubt they are going to do this ala, tinker a microwave to a ray gun and start firing. Just like with pepper spray, tear gas, beanbag rounds, etc. It's going to be well tested before its put into service by law enforcement. "Testing" in this case means showing idiots that when foreign extremists strat crying brutality while loping off our journalists heads, we can say, "Nuh-uh, we use it here and have had zero serious injuries over it."

~Rico

Where did you get this? This doesn't seem like a real AP article. Why would you go on about aerial refuellers. That has nothing to do with the article. Plus why would a European company be working with the USAF?

EDIT:I agree with rico. Also a microwave cause particles to move back and forth. Those how your food gets heated. So how the hell would it work in crowd control?

Obviously, it would make the PEOPLE move back and forth. This would confuse them, under which circumstances you could easily subdue them with nukes. Or... I dunno. Stem cells.

Anyhow, I see no problem with substituting nonlethal force for potentially lethal force.

Well what if testing the weapons caused some kind of side effect on the subject?

I mean I'm a bit confused on this. I thought kitchen microwaves were run on gamma rays.

Umm you need to go back and learn waves. Gamma rays ARE DEATH CAUSING RADIATION. If they ran on gamma waves we'd all have 3 heads by now. Gamma rays are put off by nuclear reactions. Microwaves run off, guess what, microwaves, which cause the particles in an object to vibrate back and forth, thus heating your food. And where did you get this article from again?

No. <B>I</B> just got gamms rays confused with microwaves.

But my first part still stand, what if there are side effects?

Unless they're used in a ray gun form, there won't be any side effects. In fact it won't do ANYTHING. Thoguh a ray gun that would focus them is, in theory, possible, its the realm of flying cars in that respect. Other maybe having an ECM like effect on electronic devices, it would be impossible to focus to where it would do anything.

The US Military often purchases weapons or items that have been "proved" in the civilian world by competitive shooters, police agencies, or even the public at large.

Two cases in point for weapons, the M110 Sniper Rifle and the M107 50 calibre sniper rifle. Both were designed for civilian long range hobbyists before the Military picked up the contract (with Knights and Barret respectively).

Another good piece of kit that we have is the ACOG, by Trijicon. They developed their scope for the civilian market and it was just what we needed.

What the article is saying is that we will wait and see before making and large contracts to purchase nonlethal weapons for widespread use. We will let the civilian market mature the technology and perfect it instead of buying an unproven and immature technology that may backfire.

After all, we spent a heckuva lot of money on getting the bugs out of the M16 family of weapons. In hindsight it would have been better to stick with the M14 for a few more years instead of rushing the M16 into fielding.

Having we already discussed this before? Maybe we lost it in the "crash".

Jimro

I don't recall it in the last gun thread. Maybe that was another board or something?

~Rico

we ended up discussing the role of civilian gun rights under a militia system on some gun control thread...

As a complete side note, it is a good thing that what happened in Montreal was a "rare event". Being a rare event doesn't make it any less tragic, only that it is a good thing that such incidents are very rare. Heaven help us if they ever become common.

The last time something like this happened in Canada the gun laws were tightened down so that something like this wouldn't happen again....

Laws don't stop criminals.

Jimro

People don't seem to understand that.

~Rico

The last time something like this happened in Canada the gun laws were tightened down so that something like this wouldn't happen again....
The gun used was a restricted weapon, but in this case 100% legal, registered to the killer. It's weird because the license you need to own one of those is incredibly hard to get, you basically need five approved references and they do this full background check. They practically psychoanalyze you. Even I can't get one because I've been diagnosed with depression in the last five years. And yet, in doing all this, the people at Firearms never bothered to read his blog, which should have been more than enough to make sure he never got that license, or that gun.

Wahoo, such a charming guy. Wonder what ever would have possessed him to such a thing.

*can't help self and takes on of his thousand quizzes*

wheeeeeeeeee I'm a prep! :3

~Rico

Sorry for replying to a mostly dead topic, but I need to point this out.

Gamma rays ARE DEATH CAUSING RADIATION.

It is important to note that there is no physical difference between gamma rays and X-rays of the same energy they are two names for the same electromagnetic radiation, just as sunlight and moonlight are two names for visible light. - Wikipedia

Any radiation is death-causing radiation in high doses. If gamma rays equaled instant death/and or FLK's (Funny Looking Kids) they wouldn't use them on canned foods or in electromagnetic imaging.

Also, why the hell is the Air Force funding this? What use does the Air Force have in nonlethal weapons for law enforcement? Shouldn't this be funded by the Army or something?

Also - I thought the microwave beam weapon was already in use by American law enforcement in LA?

Aso - I like online personality quizzes. They're useful to me. Not to test myself, because the results are typically useless, but it's good practice thinking IC as specific characters. Good for making characters in stories and RPs seem more realistic.

Yes, gamma rays are deadly in sufficient dose. However the article mentioned "microwave" which interacts most strongly with water, and would be useful in disabling electronics like cell phones or portable computers (also mentioned in the article).

Me? I'm all for scrapping the non-lethal approach all together. After all, the non-lethal mindset is that you can convince someone to do something your way or they might get hurt. Not exactly pursuasive if you ask me.

Jimro

Microwave weapons! Yeah! Let's just cook their spearm so they cant reproduce! ">

I heartily agree with the concept of non-lethal weapons. If a copp has to subdue someone with only a gun, which, if not an instant death sentence, still causes severe physical and sometimes psychological trauma. Also, a misfire with a handgun can be deadly. There's no margin of error with something that destructive.

Now, the concept behind nonlethal weapons is that, there's a psycho with a going after a cop, the cop fires, the guy goes down with no lasting damage, he stands trial, justice is served with no wanton destruction.

...By the way, there IS a difference between microwaves and gamma rays of the same energy- the amount of gamma rays needed to equal the energy of a given amount of microwaves is much less.
You see, their wavelengths are inversely proportional to both their frequencies AND the amount of energy they carry. Shorter wavelengths- and thus, higher frequencies- tend to cause more damage to living tissue- thus the danger of ultraviolet and gamma rays. This is because it takes less exposure to radiation of shorter wavelengths to do the same amount of damage as longer exposure to longer wavelengths. The difference is one of intensity. Sure, they're all part of the electromagnetic spectrum, but the shorter wavelengths pack more of a punch per exposure time. Gamma rays are feared- and rightly so, because the damage done in a minute or so of exposure could equal, say, an HOUR or more of exposure to a less energetic form of radiation.

Also, differing wavelengths cause DIFFERENT effects when moving through the SAME material. This is because they interact with matter at different scales. Radio waves can be over a mile in length, whereas gamma rays have wavelengths at the molecular scale. Radio waves might only interact with buildings and the landscape, but gamma rays interact with our very MOLECULES and ATOMS. With the intricate and delicate molecular structure of something as vital to life, say, a DNA molecule, it becomes quite obvious why gamma rays are of more concern.

oops. Sorry, I got to rambling there. I don't mean to sound like a smartypants or anything, it's just that I'm going into paleontology, and, since all of the branches of science are interrelated to one another, I have to learn pretty much a bit of everything.(shrugs)

So the Maser weapon is planned for use on loose criminals?
Maser=Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

That's what they mean by "civilian testing".