[Jeff @ Jul 3rd 2007 7:38AM]

I saw this story on Slashdot too and I wish people would quit parroting the ridiculous description in the original blog post. The guy who wrote it is obviously a 10 year old. I mean, "laughing gas"? Who even says that anymore? And who believes it actually makes you laugh?

It's nitrous oxide, a sedative. In large enough doses, it puts you into a stupor. It does not make you do a "Three Stooges routine" - just the opposite. That's the whole point in looking at its use for riot control.

"Assuming a very large bullet could deliver 5ml of liquid N20, this is only equivalent to 3.4 litres of gas. Nowhere near enough to have an effect if released on impact."

You're assuming they'd fire only one bullet, which is the wrong assumption. This would be for riot control; they'd pepper the crowd with these things.

I'm not saying it'd work, but that's why you do research. Obviously somebody thought it might work given the circumstances, so you test to see if that's the case and if it isn't, you move on to something else.

But non-lethal weapons are a *good* thing, not a bad thing. The alternative is to start shooting real bullets into a crowd.