Tear Gas and Tasers: Kids Get in on the ... Fun?

Posted by Urbanist in Baby & Kids, Weapons & War on May 20, 2009 at 5:27 pm


It is hard to resist a Florida joke here but really, it is a wonderful state … for the most part. What is truly amazing is not that dozens of children were tazered in the same state, nor that it was all on the same day, nor that some of them were also tear gassed. No, what is amazing is that this was done almost entirely with parental consent – and on take-your-child-to-work day no less.

Children held hands so that 50,000 volts could pass through their fingers. Other children were exposed to tear gas.

A total of 43 children were directly and indirectly shocked by electric stun guns during simultaneous Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day events gone wrong at three state prisons last month. One was a warden’s daughter.

None of the children required medical attention or were notably harmed, McNeil said. He said the victims, who ranged in age from 5 to 17, were all children of prison officials. In nearly every case, the guards who administered the “electronic immobilization devices” had permission from parents or grandparents.

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13 comments to "Tear Gas and Tasers: Kids Get in on the ... Fun?"

  1. Dru
    May 20th, 2009 at 5:48 pm

    Oh I totally forgot that it's fine to physically abuse children as long as the parents give their permission. Maybe we should really start reading those permission slips children bring home from school...... "I'm sorry but you signed the permission slip, it's not our fault you didn't read the small print that said we were going to chain your kids to the wall and whip them till they bleed and pass out. We just wanted to give them a reenactment of the Inquisition that was accurate."

  2. Steohawk
    May 20th, 2009 at 6:17 pm

    Parental consent: double-speak for "consent of the children's masters". This is one more example of how the government is the greatest child abuser of all, either directly or by means of laws that allow parents to "own" their kids.

  3. Sakina Al-Amin
    May 20th, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    It is a miracle that nobody died.

  4. Reechard
    May 20th, 2009 at 8:40 pm

    I guess I'll jump on this before this gets too much on the f' the parents bandwagon.

    Call me crazy, but as a kid I would've found this pretty cool so long as the taser was set to low and the teargas exposure wasn't too long. I'm sure they've all been exposed to this stuff themselves as part of their training and that they were careful while dealing with kids.

    Same goes for guns. It's not always bad to let a kid handle a gun so long as there is responsible supervision and training

  5. Church
    May 20th, 2009 at 8:43 pm

    Jeebus. So if they had parental consent they could run 'the prison rape experience?'

  6. Gauldar
    May 20th, 2009 at 9:20 pm

    This almost sounds as much fun as take your kid to Gitmo day!

  7. ted
    May 20th, 2009 at 10:30 pm

    The parents are proud of what they do. As for tasering and gassing the kids, that's more what happens to the inmates than to the guards. They should have let the kids taser and gas some inmates.

    A police officer I worked with related a tale of how they would tear gas officers so they would know what it's like. He declined the experience.

    I don't think I'd call it child abuse. Steohawk, parents do own their kids, don't they? Get over it. The attitude of kids not being "owned" is exactly why so many kids are out of control.

  8. zeytoun
    May 21st, 2009 at 1:34 am

    "The attitude of kids not being “owned” is exactly why so many kids are out of control."

    There are plenty of good parents, with good kids, who don't feel the need to resort to taking the position of treating their children like property. And no shortage of child abuse on every level as the default pattern of societies that treat children as "owned".

    Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of obnoxious children. But I'm not willing to go back the things were and thing that's an improvement...

  9. turskalas
    May 21st, 2009 at 3:47 am

    I totally agree with Reechard. I, as a kid, would have been the first in the line to try this stuff (and I also believe those were harmless doses of tier gas and low voltage tassering). Kids are explorers, they all want to know about this world as much as they can, just some, have their courage diminished by their parents.

  10. Horned_one250
    May 21st, 2009 at 11:18 am

    I dont get the moral outrage about this incident. Ive been tased volentaraly;it doesnt hurt.It basically just knocks you down. This would be wicked fun for a kid. Child abuse my ass. I can see how this went down:

    Officer: Well we use these tasers blah blah blah
    Kid:Can I try it?
    Kid 2: Ohh Me too?
    Kid 3 Me Too?
    Officer: Umm I dont know
    Parent: Sure why not.
    Officer: Ok
    Zap

    Sounds like fun to me.

  11. violet
    May 21st, 2009 at 12:43 pm

    The defenders are using telling phrases like "I believe" [the doses were low] and "I'm sure" [they were careful].

    This form of argument is about as effective as "believing" your child does not have an undiagnosed heart condition before you allow him a shock to the system.

    If you insist on the power of blind supposition with regard to keeping children from harm, please allow me to direct you to the contraceptive aisle. I KNOW condoms can prevent bad parenting.

  12. ted
    May 22nd, 2009 at 7:08 am

    Violet, I never used those terms, but I wasn't really defending it. The people who are saying "I believe" and "I think" are expressing their beliefs and thoughts, rather than overreacting and making huge assumptions with no other information or facts available.

    Maybe those kids were tested for heart conditions before the tasering took place. You're assuming they weren't. At least the defenders acknowledged that they were making unqualified statements.

  13. ted
    May 22nd, 2009 at 2:49 pm

    And as for the idea of ownership. I won`t even deign to address the semantics of child "ownership". If you didn't get what I was saying in response to Steohawk's comment, then nothing I could say would be of any use.


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