Titled: Scientists slam US plasma weapon

Scientists have reacted angrily to the revelation that the US military is funding development of a weapon intended to deliver an "excrutiating bout of pain" from over a mile away. The "Pulsed Energy Projectile" (PEP) device "fires a laser pulse that generates a burst of expanding plasma when it hits something solid", the New Scientist explains. If you happen to be that something solid, then you get temporarily incapacitated without suffering permanent injury.

People are mad at our military? I've never heard of such a thing. When did this start happening. PEP sounds like a great military weapon. You can incapacitate an enemy with the option not to kill them. I know that in most cases we would rather our enemies be dead then incapacitated but what about in crowd situations where you can not so easily separate the good guys from the bad guys? It makes great sense for that situation as well as many others I can think of.

That's the theory, but pain reasearchers fear that the proposed riot control weapon could be used for torture, and further doubt a solid ethical basis for the research. Andrew Rice, a consultant in pain medicine at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, said: "Even if the use of temporary severe pain can be justified as a restraining measure, which I do not believe it can, the long-term physical and psychological effects are unknown."

Ok I will grant them that we don't know the long-term psychological effects but can we agree that the lasting effects would probably remain better then being dead? No. Well there is just no pleasing some people.

I have heard there is a picture of this weapon somewhere but I haven't found it yet. I'll post it when I do.