Taser should not be first police tool

Since Tasers were introduced as a law enforcement tool less than 10 years ago, their popularity among police agencies has grown enormously. An estimated 12,000 departments nationwide have made them standard issue. In Georgia, Gwinnett County has become ground zero in the use of Tasers as a "nonlethal" method of confronting and subduing suspects. Last week, Gwinnett police leveled a 50,000-volt charge into a handcuffed, 14-year-old trick-or-treater who continued to be unruly while being held by two officers.

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