LRAD (Long Range Acoustical Devices) is an acronym most Americans have not yet heard of, but soon will be hearing a lot more about. The technology, originally designed by American Technology Corporation, to be used by American warships to warn of incoming vessels approaching without permission, is a powerful megaphone the size of a satellite dish that can emit a sound as high as 50 times greater than the human threshold for pain. When focused at a distance, is sufficient to produce permanent ear damage and temporarily disrupt vision.

Used as a “non-lethal” crowd control weapon in Iraq, LRAD was for the first time “adapted” for domestic use in the United States during the G-20 protests in Pittsburgh last month, though the acoustical gun was reportedly used against protestors in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2007.

Heidi Boghosian and Joel Kopferman, two National Lawyer’s Guild legal observers who experienced the first LRAD attack on American civilians describe its effects in a radio interview on Law and Disorder Radio. The lawyers suggest that, in addition to violating first amendment rights of free speech and assembly, LRAD use is in violation of the Fifth Amendment right of “bodily integrity.”

Tags: First Amendment, free speech

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 8:43 pm and is filed under Current Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.