San Diego, Dec 30 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that police should limit their use of Tasers. They said that the limitation is mostly against low-level offenders and the mentally ill people who pose very little threat to the police and to the society in general.

In a case in San Diego County, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals criticized an officer who, without warning, shot an emotionally troubled man with a Taser when he was unarmed and many yards away to cause any actual harm, and was neither fleeing nor advancing on the officer.

Tasers are a device, which deliver an electrical jolt meant to subdue any person, who poses a threat to the police or to the society. These tasers - stun guns have become a common and increasingly controversial tool used by law enforcement. Because of the tasers, there have been at least nine Taser-related fatalities in the Sacramento region. Earlier this month Paul Martinez Jr., who was an inmate of Roseville jail, was shot with a stun gun while allegedly resisting officers.

Because of their limitless and careless use by the police, there have been many lawsuits against the police and Taser International, which manufacture these weapons. So the nation’s appellate courts have been trying very hard to define what constitutes appropriate Taser use.