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CAN STROBE WEAPONS REALLY MAKE YOU PUKE?
Can so-called "flashlight" weapons really make you vomit? Or send you into an epileptic fit? I have a
feature in* New Scientist* on non-lethal strobe devices – new arms, relying on flashing lights, like the "
LED Incapacitator," Peak Beam's searchlight-based "
Immobilization Device," and Nanohmics'
non-pyrotechnic stun grenade.
There is a great deal of debate over how well these devices work and what their effects are. That's because the military's tests have traditionally been more concerned with environmental health. But now, the military is sponsoring a whole range of tests which go well beyond previous studies.
In the meantime, there are some myths we can clear up pretty quickly:
"
It makes you vomit," as popularized in by Fox News' story,
Flashlight Weapon Makes Targets Throw Up. Although disorientation, dizziness and nausea were quoted by all the designers as common effects, nausea is not the same as throwing up.
"I don’t think we've had anyone actually be sick", says Bob Lieberman, CEO of Intelligent Optics, which makes the LED Incapacitator. In fact, nausea is not one of the immediate effects, but is more likely to occur afterwards – it doesn’t really contribute to the weapon's effectiveness. Lieberman is philosophical about the 'puke saber' stories which are passed around the media, judging that the exposure is worth it. "We're grateful that people have taken such an interest," he says.
"
It'll make you have an epileptic fit." People with photosensitive epilepsy (around four per thousand of the population) may have seizures triggered by flashing lights. But it turns out that the frequencies which trigger seizures can be avoided.
"Our products are engineered around this situation as to not endanger people with this condition," says Will Harcourt, Peak Beam's Director of
Sales. Prof. Ley Sander, Professor of Neurology and Clinical Epilepsy at the Institute of Neurology of University College London, says that strobe devices are not be a risk to photosensitive epileptics if they have a pulse rate above 25 Hz.
"
If you shut your eyes it makes the weapon useless."
This one amuses everyone working in the field. If you close your eyes you can't run away, you can't fight back, aim a weapon or effectively resist arrest. You have immobilized yourself and made yourself helpless, which is exactly what the non-lethal weapon-makers have in mind. "If they close their eyes," says Lieberman, "then I've got 'em."
He sees the LED Incapacitator as being close to the lowest rung of the ladder of force. It may not subdue a suspect every time, but even if it is effective some of the time and prevents officers from having to use a Taser or a firearm then it will be well worthwhile.
The new generation of strobe devices are lightweight, cheap and have an unlimited supply of ammo. Within a few years they could be everywhere –
small ones in the hands of police, larger versions mounted on vehicles or drones. The Peak Beam Immobilizer is being mounted on the Vigilante, an unmanned helicopter.
"Testing has also been conducted on our strobe against on-coming vehicles. [The testing organization] rated our Maxa Beam as the most effective non-lethal weapon against drivers that they have ever tested," says Harcourt.
If they work as advertised, this could be the biggest advance in nonlethals since tear gas.
, ei ehkä käytännöllinen, mutta herättää kyllä ajatuksia.
