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Compliant Technologies’ shock gloves at Omaha Police Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, August 14, 2026.<\/span>Nikos Frazier\/Omaha World-Herald<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n On Tuesday, California<\/span> Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law<\/a> a bill banning law enforcement officers in the state from using electrical shock gloves, a \u201cpain compliance\u201d tool and recent hit with ICE officers that function similarly to tasers at a lower voltage. ICE recently purchased about 6,000 pairs of the gloves, which have been roundly condemned by human rights groups<\/a> as \u201cinherently abusive equipment that facilitates torture\u201d\u2014for $16.7 million dollars.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is about stepping up where the federal government has failed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cTrump has put his political interests above the health, safety and livelihood of American families. California is taking action to strengthen transparency, accountability, and oversight around immigration enforcement in our state,\u201d Newsom said in a statement<\/a> that accompanied the bill\u2019s signing. \u201cThis is about stepping up where the federal government has failed our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n The ban will go into effect in 2027 as part of a suite of bills<\/a> Newsom signed in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in California, including a 25 percent tax on companies that operate immigration detention facilities in the state, a ban on face coverings by federal agents\u2014a previous version of which was blocked by a judge<\/a>\u2014and a law expanding oversight requirements for federal immigration detention centers in California.<\/p>\n As I have previously reported<\/a>, the shock gloves ICE purchased have been the subject of several lawsuits, including a wrongful death suit:<\/p>\n A pending wrongful death lawsuit<\/a> alleges that a 43-year-old man named Jonathan Mansfield died because corrections officers shocked him 27 times with the gloves and 13 times with a Taser. Two of the glove shocks lasted 45 and 99 seconds. The manufacturer\u2019s recommended limit is 15 seconds. A man with heart problems sued over allegations that he was shocked at a Las Vegas trade show, as the Associated Press reported. <\/p>\n And in 2023, a man who was incarcerated in Kentucky\u2019s Bullitt County Jail sued an employee of that jail for shocking him repeatedly<\/a> with the gloves. \u201cThe gloves feel just like a taser,\u201d Josh Elswick, who was in handcuffs and shackles when he was shocked<\/a>, said. Bullitt County Jail representatives told local media<\/a> they would stop using electric shock gloves shortly thereafter.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n California\u2019s ban on shock gloves is likely to be challenged in court\u2014and the Department of Homeland Security has already promised that it will flout any such law. As a DHS spokesperson told me earlier this month<\/a>, \u201cSanctuary politicians attempting to ban our federal law enforcement from any safety equipment is despicable and a deliberate attempt to undermine\u00a0and endanger our officers. To be crystal clear: we will not abide by unconstitutional bans. The Supremacy\u00a0Clause makes it clear that California\u2019s sanctuary politicians do not control federal law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeff Niklaus, CEO of Compliant Technologies, the firm that manufactures the gloves, blamed \u201cpolitical bias\u201d and lack of understanding of his product for the ban in a September 22 YouTube video<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were never contacted by any legislator or agency within California,\u201d Niklaus said, calling the firm\u2019s gloves the \u201csafest, most humane deescalatory product probably ever to come along<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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