PETITION CLOSED

  • The time period for signing this petition has ended.
  1. Signatures
    310 out of 500,000
    Petitioning
    1. The President of the United States (+ 6 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • The President of the United States
      • The U.S. Senate
      • The U.S. House of Representatives
      • Your Governor
      • Your State Senate
      • Your State House
      • Jeannie Hartley, Human Rights Activist (Dept of Justice, Dept of Homeland Security, ACLU)
  2. Created By
    Jeannie Hartley
    Broomfield, CO
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

While the DOJ has established protocols for use of LETHAL force, they have NOT done so for the onerous classification of "LESS-LETHAL weapons (Pepper spray, pepperball guns, tear gas, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, etc.) This lack of a National policy has resulted in widespread abusive use of this arsenal against the citizens of the U.S. by increasingly militarized domestic law enforcement agencies. There are innumerable instances where excessive force and use of these weapons have been documented resulting in unnecessary injuries and even deaths. The paramilitary nature of modern police forces have repeatedly proven they cannot be trusted to use these weapons in a responsible manner in the best interests of the citizens they are sworn to protect. Recommended restrictions of use by the manufacturers and legal authorities are routinely ignored by local law enforcement resulting in abusive and injurious treatment of non-resistant suspects, peaceful demonstrators and innocent bystanders. Some notoriously publicized cases have shown outright torture, where restrained citizens are sprayed at point blank range or most infamously in California where officers swabbed the chemical into their eyes with Q-tips. Whereas these weapons are considered "Chemical Weapons" and therefore banned on the battlefield, why are they allowed to be used on the citizens of the United States? Law enforcement should not be allowed to use chemicals on citizens that (OSHA) activities outside of NC, they concluded that exposure to OC spray during training constituted an unacceptable health risk (TO POLICE OFFICERS)http://www.nopepperspray.org/health_hazards_of_pepper_spray_ncjm.htm

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Establish national moratorium on the use of pepper spray by law enforcement

DEAR FRIENDS

I just signed the following petition addressed to: Dept of Justice, Dept of Homeland Security, ACLU.

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Establish national moratorium on the use of pepper spray by law enforcement

While the DOJ has established protocols for use of LETHAL force, they have NOT done so for the onerous classification of "LESS-LETHAL weapons (Pepper spray, pepperball guns, tear gas, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, etc.) This lack of a National policy has resulted in widespread abusive use of this arsenal against the citizens of the U.S. by increasingly militarized domestic law enforcement agencies. There are innumerable instances where excessive force and use of these weapons have been documented resulting in unnecessary injuries and even deaths. The paramilitary nature of modern police forces have repeatedly proven they cannot be trusted to use these weapons in a responsible manner in the best interests of the citizens they are sworn to protect. Recommended restrictions of use by the manufacturers and legal authorities are routinely ignored by local law enforcement resulting in abusive and injurious treatment of non-resistant suspects, peaceful demonstrators and innocent bystanders. Some notoriously publicized cases have shown outright torture, where restrained citizens are sprayed at point blank range or most infamously in California where officers swabbed the chemical into their eyes with Q-tips. Whereas these weapons are considered "Chemical Weapons" and therefore banned on the battlefield, why are they allowed to be used on the citizens of the United States?
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Sincerely,

[Your name]

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