We now have reached the stage in MAGA’s descent into depravity where they respond to criticism of ICE vigilantes shooting people by opting for the more humane practice of electric shock.
On Aug. 11, the Associated Press reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has plans to acquire $20 million worth of gloves that agents can use to grab and shock people into compliance as part of a “de-escalation” strategy.
As concerned citizens began posting about it on social media, far-right extremists came to the Trump administration’s defense. In one post I made on Facebook, conservatives responded by joking: “Free shock therapy for liberals!” and “Electric-shock gloves are dope as heck. I’m surprised nobody thought of that sooner” and “Shock and awe those mfrs” and “This is gonna be awesome to watch.”
Those were some of the more tame comments.
But while the Right looks forward to giving electric shocks to immigrants, the unfortunate reality is that this technology isn’t new. It’s already been used on prisoners and public school kids.
Publicity photo of a demonstration of shock gloves.
MAGA’s electric shock gloves
The gloves are called GLOVE, an acronym for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, and are produced by Compliant Technologies. While the company advertised their electric shock gloves in 2022 as “weapons,” they since have rebranded them as “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices.”
The company was started by former Blackhawk helicopter pilot Jeff Niklaus, whom Mother Jones reports “believes that President Donald Trump has been ‘anointed’ by God,” and who “blamed the fatal crash of a passenger plane and a military helicopter on ‘the vaccines,’ and on the Biden administration’s inclusion of women and LGBTQ people in the military.”
Mark Lamb, Republican candidate for Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, speaks at a Turning Point USA event Friday, April 17, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The gloves have been promoted by the likes of Sheriff Mark Lamb, the MAGA influencer who calls himself “America’s Sheriff.” Lamb won this year’s Republican primary for Arizona’s 5th Congressional District after being endorsed by Trump and is considered to be the favorite for the general election. According to the Arizona Republic, the former sheriff of Pinal County faces his own allegations of abusing his power by threatening women he allegedly sent nude photos to.
In an interview with Dan De La Cruz, president of Compliant Technologies, Lamb couldn’t contain his excitement about the product.
He watched as De La Cruz performed a demonstration on a tall adult man. De La Cruz said the electrical currents can’t harm the person doing the shocking and can’t go through clothing. So the glove must make contact with skin in order to shock the target. According to Wired, “The GLOVE works using neuro-peripheral interference, essentially shocking the skin to bombard the sensory nerves and temporarily short-circuit the brain’s focus.”
When De La Cruz shocked the man’s arm, the man immediately fell to the ground in pain. “That fight ended in less than 3 seconds,” Cruz said. “That was zero tactics. That was me just closing my hand on him.”
He claimed the electric shock gloves will save taxpayers money because they don’t leave any evidence of physical harm behind. So it’s hard for the survivors to prove they were hurt: “That saves a lot in taxpayer’s money when it comes to workman’s comp and suspect payouts that we’re seeing left and right here.”
Lamb responded, “Which is what happens. It’s a very litigious society. And we’re constantly having to deal with that.”
“There’s no other tool on an officer’s belt that we can demonstrate today and everybody walk away with zero injuries and probably smiling and laughing when we’re done.”
In another demonstration with a police officer, De La Cruz said when officers are “forced to strike (suspects), dig their knees into them, multiple things, none of this looks good on camera.” So to make his gloves contact the officer’s skin, he pulled up the officer’s shirt and touched his back. Immediately, the officer’s arms stretched out in pain.
“That was horrible. That was horrible,” the officer said. Then he added, “But it worked.”
De La Cruz added: “You’re not hurt. And everything they saw on camera. I didn’t strike you. I didn’t do anything. Their hands always pop out.” He said there have been 3,000 real-world uses of their gloves and concluded, “There’s no other tool on an officer’s belt that we can demonstrate today and everybody walk away with zero injuries and probably smiling and laughing when we’re done.”
Federal agents walk down a street while conducting immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
Shocking prisoners
But not everyone is smiling and laughing along with Cruz, Sheriff Lamb, and their MAGA fan club. According to a 2021 user manual for GLOVE, the electric shock can lead to an “increase in blood pressure” and “changes in heart rhythm,” which can cause significant health problems for the person being shocked.
One wrongful death lawsuit claims a prisoner died after being shocked by the gloves 27 times, with shocks lasting up to 99 seconds.
Another lawsuit says a prisoner in 2023 was continuously shocked despite being in handcuffs.
According to a Compliant Technologies promo video, the electric shock gloves are being used “from the patrolmen to the jailers.”
Shocking kids
Perhaps most concerning is that not only are the gloves being used on immigrants and prisoners, but also on public school kids.
According to KSNB-TV, a local NBC affiliate in Nebraska, “Omaha Police Department school resource officers have carried a device called GLOVE — Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter — on their belts at middle and high schools for more than a year.”
The Omaha City Council paid $65,924 to buy 40 pairs of the electric shock gloves. Bellevue Police Capt. John Stuck told KSNB-TV, “The gloves have proven to be a highly effective tool for our officers, particularly in school settings.”
Ironically, Nebraska law prohibits corporal punishment in public schools, calling spanking, “the infliction of bodily pain as a penalty for disapproved behavior.” So one would think shocking kids would fall under that definition.
Those who promote the use of GLOVE say the purpose of shocking children isn’t to punish them for their bad behavior but to gain compliance.
Yet, however MAGA justifies shocking minors with the same technology they use to shock immigrants and prisoners, they’re still inflicting pain to a level an adult police officer said felt “horrible.” And they have to make contact with the children’s skin to do so. Are they shocking the kid’s arms as Cruz demonstrated in one video? What about when the kids are wearing full sleeves? Do they have to lift up the kids’ shirts to shock them? And do they have any idea how the shock might affect the kids’ mental or physical health?
Katie Nungesser
Katie Nungesser of Voices for Children in Nebraska said: “This officer doesn’t have any background on this child’s physical health or mental health. It’s what kind of situation are you saying is happening common enough for us to be using this kind of force on kids in schools? And how does that change that kid forever?”
The Omaha Police Department said in a statement: “When considering equipment for our School Resource Officers, we wanted a less-lethal option that would use a lower level of force than tools such as a TASER or pepper spray, recognizing the unique environment of a school and the importance of maintaining a safe learning environment for students and staff. … The Omaha Police Department understands and respects the concerns that may arise regarding the use of this type of tool in a school environment. Our intent, however, is to provide our officers with the necessary tools, training and resources to keep students, school staff and others safe when responding to situations in our schools.”
A culture of violence against human bodies
When I was a Republican, I never would have imagined trusting government officials with electric shock gloves. At the same time, growing up in conservative fundamentalism, the solution to any behavioral problem within our walls was violence. Any lack of immediate compliance was met with the swing of a belt, a ping pong paddle, a rubber band gun, a wooden spoon, or whatever the authorities could get their hands on.
In one sense, their goal was punishment. Justice was defined as the punishment of violent retribution against our little bodies as they lifted up our shirts or pulled down our pants to maximize pain on our skin. But in another sense, their goal was compliance as a way of de-escalating any future violence, specifically the violence of God in the afterlife.
“To prevent God from violently burning us, they had to beat us.”
If the authorities couldn’t break our wills to comply with theirs, then they believed God would burn our bodies in hell forever. To prevent God from violently burning us, they had to beat us.
So now that yesterday’s fundamentalists have become today’s conservative evangelicals and are taking the violent theology within their walls out to the culture at large, it makes sense that their MAGA movement would continue its strategy of punishment and breaking wills through violence. It used to be hitting us. Lately, it’s been shooting us. And now they’re settling for shocking us.
Is this really the culture we want to have in our society? What have these people done to earn our trust that they can wield this technology in any kind of responsible manner, if that’s even possible?
Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, put it this way: “ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do. Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public.”
It’s no wonder conservatives spend so much energy demonizing empathy toward their empire’s “least of these” when they plan to shock them. But as they bloviate about being the ones who take Jesus seriously, let’s make one thing clear.
Whatever they do to the least of these, they’re doing to Jesus.
Rick Pidcock
Rick Pidcock is a 2004 graduate of Bob Jones University, with a bachelor of arts degree in Bible. He’s a freelance writer based in South Carolina and a former Clemons Fellow with BNG. He completed a master of arts degree in worship from Northern Seminary. He is a stay-at-home father of five children and is the author of a forthcoming book, Weapons of Worship: How the Songs of Evangelicalism Form the Soundtrack of Extremism. Follow his blog at www.rickpidcock.com.