Hats off to Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne for his suggestion to use non-lethal weapons developed for the military on unruly mobs here in the United States.

Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.

The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael Wynne.

"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."

Wynne is right, but the people that these things are typically used against "progressive" anti-capitalist, anti-globalization kids of privilege whose mommies and daddies can afford high-priced lawyers to sue the state or municipality that uses these devices. The outcry from the anti-American human rights professionals will be deafening.

Despite Wynne's well-considered point that using these devices on our own citizens will demonstrate to the world that we believe them to be safe, I don't think that this will fly.

However, this does remind me of the abortion clinic protests of the mid- to late-80s here in San Diego. When non-violent abortion opponents blocked clinic entrances by sitting down and refusing to move, the local police, instead of just picking up the protesters and moving them (as has been done since time immemorial), used nunchukus to get the protesters to move themselves. These nunchukus are similar to the martial arts weapon you see used in movies -- two wood or metal sticks about the length of your forearm connected to each other by a short length of chain. These devices however were smaller and they didn't use the nunchukus to strike the protesters. Instead, they would wrap the nunchukus around a protester's wrist and, using the weapon like a vice, coerce the protester to get up and move him or herself. The technique was non-lethal, rarely resulted in broken bones, but did leave bruises and caused a pretty incredible level of pain.

What's notable about this was that groups like the ACLU, NAACP and other groups often sympathetic to these sorts of non-violent protest were oddly silent about the unnecessary force being used. Certainly using the nunchukus prevented some back injuries among police officers, but that's about it.

The left will howl about the use of these non-lethal weapons, because they are most likely to be used against them. If these weapons are ever used against, say, anti-illegal immigration protesters, I can almost guarantee silence from the self-appointed human rights elite.