Non Lethal Weapons

Non Lethal Weapons

The U.S government has come up with a new "non-lethal" laser rifle designed to dazzle enemy personnel without causing them permanent harm. It is called The Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response (PHASR) rifle which was developed at the Air Force Research Laboratory in New Mexico, US, and two prototypes have been delivered to military bases in Texas and Virginia for further testing. PHASR could be used to temporarily blind an enemy coming through a roadblock. Although this seems like a good idea, this idea for a blinding non lethal laser rifle, it has already been brought up in the past.

Back in 1995 the use of temporarily blinding weapons were banned under a 1995 convention called the Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons. The problem with these weapons back then was that most of the time they would permanently blind a victim. Now inventors of these weapons are using less powerful laser beams to hopefully not permanently blind victims, but temporarily. Although the laser beams will be less powerful there are some safety issues that need to be addressed.

When dealing with these special lasers a couple of safety concerns come up. Even though the laser beams aren't going to be as powerful as the ones in 1995, the range of the laser comes up. If a person aims the laser in someone's eyes close in range, it still could produce some dangerous effects to ones eyes. To counter that safety issue, inventors added a eye safe range finder which could adjust the laser to the distance of the target. The PHASR also incorporates a "two wavelength laser system", which may be designed to counter goggles that can filter out certain wavelengths of laser light.

The issue of non lethal weapons such as PHASR could bring positive or negative effects to society and many social institutions may be affected by these weapons. In my personal opinion I believe these weapons could have both positive