Pepper Spray’s Fallout, From Crowd Control to Mocking Images - Nicholas Kristof

[tabatha]

Some women carry it in their purses in a pink, lipstick-shaped container. Hikers use it to deter bears. People in most states can buy a small canister of it on a quick-release key ring on Amazon.com for $7.07.

As pepper spray has become ubiquitous in this country over the last two decades, it has not raised many eyebrows. But now, after images of the campus police at the University of California, Davis, spraying the Kool-Aid-colored orange compound on docile protesters on Friday, pepper spray is a topic of national debate.

It has become the crowd-control measure of choice lately by police departments from New York to Denver to Portland, Ore., as they counter protests by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/us/pepper-sprays-fallout-from-crowd-control-to-mocking-images.html?_r=1&hp

[lbrtbell]

1. I carry OC gas (pepper spray)

It's in a canister and holster, larger than the purse-sized BS but smaller than what was used at UC Davis. I've practiced with the stuff, and gotten hit with just the overspray.

The orange stuff is supposed to be used by VICTIMS, and that orange dye is supposed to enable police to ID the suspect if the attacker manages to get away. Why cops are carrying the stuff with the dye is beyond me. It's not like someone's going to get far after being hit with that much OC gas.

[Capitalocracy]

3. Fascist police have used dye to mark activists for decades.

In military dicatotrships, they dye the water in water cannons, for example... then use it to identify those people for later extermination.

Obviously not saying that's what's going on here... but it wouldn't surprise me if they were looking for orange when making arrests.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. The outrage about Pepperspray cop has carried over to Amazon reviews of the stuff.

Funny funny funny comments TONS of them, on the Amazon page for pepper spray.

Link to to DU post about it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2367149

direct link to Amazon page:
http://www.amazon.com/Defense-Technology-56895-Stream-Pepper/product-reviews/B0058EOAUE/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

[SixthSense]

4. that's awesome

you made my morning, especially the Amazon link, thank you

[guitar man]

5. !!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

"I was really excited to receive the pepper spray. My favorite Fox News personality, Miss Megyn Kelly, mentioned it the other night so I figured it had to be super duper. I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. It's not nearly as easy to put on my eggs and saltines as a few dashes of Tabasco. I have to be honest and say the taste is pretty darned gross too. I'm not sure why Miss Kelly uses this stuff. She must have taste buds of steel. I was going to give the product a two-star rating, but had to drop it to a one-star when I accidentally turned around and sprayed my six year old son when he sneaked up behind me at the table. I just cannot take screaming that loud this early in the morning. Trust me, just use Tabasco instead."

:spray:

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. LOLZ!!!!

I missed that one.

I did notice a LOT of them were written after FOX called pepper spray a vegie.

[Pacifist Patriot]

9. I wrote that one!

[jtrockville]

6. Very entertaining reviews!

[Huey P. Long]

8. From the article-

“I have never seen such an inappropriate and improper use of chemical agents,” Mr. Loghman said in an interview.

Mr. Loghman, who also helped develop guidelines for police departments using the spray, said that use-of-force manuals generally advise that pepper spray is appropriate only if a person is physically threatening a police officer or another person.