Anthony Salloum

A defence think tank is urging Canada to ensure weapons known as laser dazzlers are safe before it takes steps to buy them. "Military companies pitch these weapons as a safe alternative to guns, but in the absence of a testing process, and I stress this, we cannot be sure of their safety nor their compliance with Canada's national and international obligations," Anthony Salloum of the Rideau Institute said Monday at a news conference in Ottawa. "You only have to look at the current controversy in Canada over the use of Tasers." Laser dazzlers are intended to be used for crowd control and convoy protection. They work by disrupting the vision of those targeted.