Why the U.S. Government is Unprepared For Today's Weapons

Information Unlimited, a "future technology" company out of Amherst, New Hampshire, sells some pretty wild gadgets. There are wand-shaped energy probes for those wishing to monitor the "E fields produced by electrical activity and other unknown anomalies" (as seen on paranormal research TV shows); 2,000-volt fish stunners for all of us too lazy to use a lure (check for legalities on use in your area!); and last, but not least, a modest selection of ion ray, magnetic, coil, and plasma thermal guns. (My personal favorite product is the microwave cannon — it reminds me of a childhood experiment with a potato.)

These toys aren't exactly designed for the average Discovery Channel watcher, and they aren't as harmless as sticking various foods into a household microwave, either. The adjustable ion ray gun, for example, "uses a variable duty cycle clocked oscillator driving a FET field effect transistor in turn switching into a resonant transformer. " Not 100% sure on what that means, but as they point out, if used incorrectly, ion ray guns "can be hazardous" and "induce electric shocks."

Sound like science fiction? Well it's not all as "Star Wars" as you might think. The U.S. military has been invested in laser weapon technology for decades. Just recently, the navy tested a new laser gun designed to destroy incoming cruise missiles. What happened to good old muzzleloaders?

Still, though, if you ask the federal government, these aren't weapons worthy of regulation. Why?

Lasers and magnets aren't what I think of when I hear the word gun or cannon, and it isn't what the federal government thinks either. The organization responsible for regulating firearms, the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) still uses the definition of a gun or firearm as stated in the Gun Control Act of 1968: "any weapon (including a starter gun), which will, or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive." Guns are only guns if they use some kind of gun powder. Under that definition, none of Information Unlimited's devices are actually guns, and neither are the lasers being researched and tested by the U.S. military.

The limited definition for a firearm is a crucial factor behind the lack of regulation and widespread abuse of tasers. Information Unlimited's products may be unusual, but tasers are in widespread use throughout the U.S. Instead of being categorized as a deadly firearm, they are referred to as electronic control devices and treated as semi-lethal and even non-lethal weapons.

A few states and cities have come up with provisions to try and reign in the availability and misuse of the weapon, but In many places across the country anyone over age 18 can carry a concealed taser in a public space. The federal government needs to step up to regulate these devices that the UN regards as "a form of torture that can kill."

Police misuse stems from this same definition. Tasers in the hands of law enforcement save lives when they are used in place of firearms, but the high frequency of tasings proves that police aren't using them instead if guns, they are using them in addition to guns. Like the ATF, they don't consider tasers a deadly firearm. This incorrect categorization has lead to over 400 deaths and countless unnecessary uses.

Information Unlimited says products like their coil gun, which uses magnets to propels aluminum rings at "considerable" speeds, "should be treated as a firearm." They may be a zany company selling far-out products, but unlike the federal government, they've moved on from a medieval definition of a gun. The ATF needs to likewise get with the times and expand their limited definition of what constitutes a firearm.

Photo Credit: Pyro Plastics