What does the US Forest Service need tasers for?

[Joanne98]

Are the squirrels and bunnies defying the authoritarians?


http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/primenewswire/126937.htm
United States Forest Service Purchases 700 TASER X26 Electronic Control Devices

Federal Agencies Continue to Show Growth Opportunities
September 19, 2007: 07:30 AM EST


SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 19, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR), a market leader in advanced electronic control devices, today announced that it received an order from the United States Forest Service for 700 TASER(r) X26 electronic control devices and related accessories.

"We are excited about this new additional federal agency purchasing TASER technology to protect life," said Tom Smith, Chairman and Founder of TASER international. "Traditionally, we have focused law enforcement sales at the local and state level, but we are now seeing acceptance of TASER technology at various federal law enforcement agencies."

"We have seen a continual marked increase in TASER technology purchases at the federal level following our initial U.S. military approval of a five-year indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. We are proud that law enforcement within the Departments of Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, Interior, and Agriculture are now relying on TASER devices to protect life."

The order was placed with Aardvark Tactical, Inc. of Azusa, CA, TASER International's GSA distributor to the federal government.

This order is anticipated to ship between the third and fourth quarter, 2007.

About TASER International, Inc.

TASER International's products protect life. TASER provides advanced Electronic Control Devices (ECDs) for use in the law enforcement, medical, military, corrections, professional security, and personal protection markets. TASER devices use proprietary technology to incapacitate dangerous, combative, or high-risk subjects who pose a risk to law enforcement officers, innocent citizens, or themselves in a manner that is generally recognized as a safer alternative to other uses of force. For more information please call TASER International at [phone] or visit our website at www.TASER.com.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/primenewswire/126937.htm

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. For arresting violent people.

You don't think forest service is all about bunnies and squirrels, do you?

[SharonAnn]

15. And those who grow marijuana in the national forests. Yes, they're violent.

[Freddie Stubbs]

21. A violent person involved in the drug trade? That's crazy talk!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. The fugitive murderers that flee to national parks are often quite violent.

Those are few and far between, but sometimes the people who go out to the woods to cook up meth are violent. There's a lot more of those. And then there are the people who go out fishing or hunting without licenses, and have way, way too much to drink and get pretty belligerent.

It'd be helpful to have a taser in those sorts of situations. Wouldn't you agree?

[MrCoffee]

2. if it's bunnies they're worried about...

they need the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch

[XemaSab]

3. A lot of Forest Service work is law enforcement

Would you rather they carried guns, and used them? :shrug:

[Horse with no Name]

4. Squirrels and bunnies??? OH PLEASE!

It's for Yogi and BooBoo. Word on the street was that the republican perverts were planning on molesting them and they wanted them subdued realllly good.

[MADem]

5. Angry bears...and people who grow pot in the forest, and guard it with guns and trip wires.

The angry bears bit was a goof, but hey, it might work...!

[Fierce]

6. Lots of enforcement in national parks involves drugs.

nt

[BlooInBloo]

7. Tazing autistic diabetic pregnant women. Duh.

[donheld]

35. Tazing autistic diabetic pregnant women bunnies. Duh.

:D

[BlooInBloo]

36. :)

[StarryNite]

41. "Tazing autistic diabetic pregnant women bunnies"

who have pit bulls and smoke.

[Kelly Rupert]

8. So...you believe the forest service exists to keep woodland animals in line?

Funny, because I always believed their duties both included apprehending and detaining people who were causing public disturbances in national parkland, and breaking up drug rings.

[G_j]

9. environmental activists

Tree-sitters and the like,
I imagine that is one reason they ordered them.

Their job is to protect timber and mining interests.

[LeftyMom]

12. That's what I said on the last thread about this.

They'd use guns on the drug growers if they were brave, or ignore them if they weren't. The tasers are for torturing protesters who chain themselves to bulldozers, block logging roads and such. They've been using pepper spray for that for ages.

[G_j]

20. yep, pepper spray applied with a cue tip

directly to the eyes of locked down activists
:scared:
If I recall, that was the forest service.

[XemaSab]

39. No, that was the Humboldt County Sheriffs

During a sit-down protest at a congressman's office.

http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9710/31/pepper.spray.lawsuit/index.html

[truebrit71]

10. Because those chipmunks can be vicious little bastards...

...especially if they're all hopped up on booze...

[aikoaiko]

11. Some really bad people soemtimes do bad things in our parks.

If its their job to confront those people, then give them the tools to do so.

[Cleita]

13. Actually, they are a law enforcement agency sorting out unruly

campers and wierdos in the woods all the time. They used to have guns, but some yahoo in Washington, D. C. decided they didn't need them. They actually do need guns for protection and have to call sheriffs for back up. In some rural areas the sheriff might be a hundred miles away somewhere. I don't think tasers are the answer.

They really need their guns back. I used to work as a camp ground host usually for a forest ranger as my supervisor. I saw them having to deal with some dangerous situations especially with meth crazy locals and they had to do it without weapons until they could get the sheriff to arrest them. I used to have a back up weapon hidden away just in case my forest ranger was in danger although it wasn't kosher for me to do so. It was sort of shadowy legal though if I could claim self defense. The ranger couldn't pack, no matter what, unless off duty and doing something like hunting.

[KittyWampus]

19. What an interesting job to have. How did you end up doing that?

[Cleita]

26. When my DH and I retired we applied for the job.

If you have an RV you can work at any number of state or national parks as campground hosts in exchange for utility hook-ups. Sometimes we even got a little money. Many senior citizens who still have their health do it. (It's really hard physical work to keep campgrounds and bathroom facilities clean and functional.) It was a way for us to spend time in the woods without having to leave after two weeks.

[KittyWampus]

31. plus, you're helping out! Always a good feeling. Did you have to have certification

or something?

[Cleita]

33. No. It was a volunteer job. Previous experience helps you get

more jobs. A lot of people start out at Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. It's really hard work six days a week, but if you get that little bit of experience at first it starts your resume and the rangers or private companies (many campgrounds are run by private concessioners)can call each other up for references.

[soothsayer]

14. axe murderers, congressmen (isn't one plan to evacuate them to national parks

in the event of an emergency?)

[C_U_L8R]

16. errant elms? mischievous maples?

radical rosebushes ???????

terrorist turnips ???????????

[XemaSab]

40. Sinister sycamores.

n/t

[bryant69]

17. Bears. Like that Yogi Feller! n/t

[AX10]

18. kickbacks?!?

:shrug:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

23. One reason is they often come across pot fields and meth labs

And the not too nice people who are growing and cooking said items.

Pot smokers for the most part may be much more harmless than drinkers, but that's not the case with many big time growers. Very scary people.

[CanonRay]

24. Drunken campers and hunters!

Frankly, some of our campgrounds need a little law enforcement. Unfortunately, there are a lot of idiots out there.

[Cleita]

27. As a camp ground host I found the hunters to be the worst.

The campers often had children with them so they often dealt with the more unruly campers like drunken teenagers on their own, or my husband did. But the hunters I found had no respect for their surrounding and the people in adjoining spaces. Worse than that they were armed. I was always happy that hunting season was so short. Of course the druggies and dealers often lurked around the picnic grounds and they were really wild cards depending on what influence they were under.

[ben_meyers]

25. Maybe to deal with this kind of thing

A family, camping on an island in Basswood Lake in the remote Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, described how they were hiding in the woods, terrified that several men were going to kill them.

The men, they said, were shooting guns and fireworks from motorboats, making threats and shouting obscenities. At one point, they said, the men appeared to come ashore, where they threatened to kill the father and rape his daughter.

http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_6922354

[Cleita]

28. The local law enforcement like sheriffs are supposed to take

care of those problems, but these agencies in rural areas are stretched so thin that it might take an hour to get one to come out to any place to deal with those situations. The Rangers are usually closer by and the first on the scene, yet they have to deal with these situations unarmed.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

29. Yogi and Boo Boo have hassled Mr. Ranger for the last time.

It's time for some payback.

[Reciprocity]

30. Dangerous squirrels.

[C_U_L8R]

32. I'd buy this t-shirt :-)

DON'T TASE ME, BRO.

[lateo]

34. Bear attack?

Or maybe a badger? They have fiery tempers.

[11 Bravo]

37. Uppity squirrels?

[SidDithers]

38. Grilled Cheese Sammiches...mmmmm...nt

Sid

[Javaman]

42. Because Smoky is on crack. nt

[mmonk]

43. To kill and cook.

[DemGa]

44. I think it's more about TASER International, Inc's desire for the US

forest service to have tazers.

[Stewie]

45. Two reported pic-a-nic basket thieves

Police have released this sketch.