The headline in the local rag yesterday announced the Pennington Gap Town Council has approved TASERS for use by the PGPD. A taser is either the non-lethal weapon of the future or just another torture device. I guess that depends on whether or not you have ever been incapacitated by a shot from Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle. There are plenty of pros and cons on the subject, but I’m not going to get into them here. What I am concerned about is the local PD having a weapon that uses Electro-Muscular Disruption (EMD) technology. This is a department whose untrained members are not qualified to investigate traffic accidents and whose current chief has been described as “dumber than a coal bucket” by people who know him. I once read the help wanted ads in this same newspaper. The qualifications for a coal truck driver were more stringent than those for a police officer. I don’t think this is going to work out very well.
Brian's Blog 
