Tasers: Island tries to cut a deal

Tuesday 18th September 2007, 12:00AM BST.

THE Assistant Home Affairs Minister has met senior government officials in London to try to agree a deal that will allow the Island to import Taser stun guns.

Deputy Andrew Lewis joined delegates from Guernsey and Gibraltar in Westminster on Friday in a bid to convince them that the dependencies’ police forces should be able to have the so-called ‘less lethal’ weapons. A quirk in the British rules governing the sale of firearms means that Jersey is not allowed to import Taser stun guns from the UK. Home Affairs want to add the weapons to the States police’s armoury and met UK government officials to try to get permission to buy them. Home Affairs argue that the devices, which fire darts into the target and deliver a massive electric shock to incapacitate him or her, will safeguard the human right to life of criminals who might otherwise be shot dead with real guns.

Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.