Want some torture with your peanuts?

By Jeffrey Denning

Just when you thought you’ve heard it all...

A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety
bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police
Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers (video also shown below).

This bracelet would:

• take the place of an airline boarding pass

• contain personal information about the traveler

• be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage

• shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes

The
Electronic ID Bracelet, as it’s referred to, would be worn by every
traveler “until they disembark the flight at their destination.” Yes,
you read that correctly. Every airline passenger would be tracked by a
government-funded GPS, containing personal, private and confidential
information, and would shock the customer worse than an electronic dog
collar if the passenger got out of line.

Clearly the Electronic
ID Bracelet is a euphuism for the EMD Safety Bracelet, or at least it
has a nefarious hidden ability (thus the term ID Bracelet is ambiguous
at best). EMD stands for Electro-Musclar Disruption. Again, according
to the promotional video, the bracelet can completely immobilize the
wearer for several minutes.

So is the government really that interested in this bracelet?

Apparently so.

According to this letter from DHS official, Paul S. Ruwaldt of the Science and Technology Directorate, office of Research and
Development, which was written to the inventor whom he had previously
met with, Ruwaldt wrote, “To make it clear, we [the federal government]
are interested in . . . the immobilizing security bracelet, and look
forward to receiving a written proposal.”

The letterhead, in case you were wondering, is from a U.S. Department of Homeland Security office at the William J. Hughes Technical Center at the Atlantic City International Airport, or the Federal Aviation Administration headquarters.

In
another part of the letter, Mr. Ruwaldt confirmed, “It is conceivable
to envision a use to improve air security, on passenger planes.”

Would
every paying airline passenger flying on a commercial airplane be
mandated to wear one of these devices? I cringe at the thought. Not
only could it be used as a physical restraining device, but also as a
method of interrogation, according to the same aforementioned letter
from Mr. Ruwaldt.

Would you let them put one of those on your
wrist? Would you allow the airline employees, which would be mandated
by the government, to place such a bracelet on any member of your
family?

Why are tax dollars being spent on something like this?

Is this a police state or is this America?