What a pity so few Kiwis invest in US stocks. They could have got a real deal if they’d have bought shares in Taser International Inc.

Its stock just rose on the news that third-quarter sales were up 57% on the year before and that it had not lost any of the wrongful death or injury lawsuits that plagued it in the US last year.

The country’s top cop, Howard Broad, has apparently backed away from his claim that “strong forces” would push for guns for police if the year-long trial of Tasers here got zapped. Quite who those strong forces might be remains a mystery, though Greg O’Connor, head of the police union, the Police Association, might know. He was the one who got the cannonball rolling by telling his conference that middle-class bureaucrats had no idea about the realities on the thin blue line.

“The laws are often made by those that live in the leafier suburbs who develop their law and order from dinner parties, rather than bottle-throwing parties,” O'Connor said.

Opponents of the Taser say that police are already breaking trial protocol, which says that the 50,000-volt stun-gun should only be used in “assaultive” situations, and mental-health professionals worry that it will be used on mentally ill individuals.

How is it on the frontline? Stats NZ tells us that there was little change in the offence rates for violent crime between 1994 and 2000, but it was reported earlier this year that recorded crime rose nearly 7% in the 12 months to June, violence up just over 10%. That’s pretty bad. We all fear violent crime, though probably more because the media scares it up so much. In absolute terms we’re still a fairly peaceful society.

And those of us who live in leafy suburbs, even if we only rent our branches and trunks, are far more concerned on a day-to-day basis about property crime, which grew even faster than violence. Property violation can make you feel nasty and retributive almost as much as any physical form.