Lawgiver (Judge Dredd)

The Lawgiver is a fictional weapon used by the Judges in Judge Dredd and related series that appear in the UK comic books 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine, as well as the 1995 movie Judge Dredd and the 2012 film Dredd.

The Lawgiver is a handgun featuring semi- and fully automatic fire, manual and automatic focusing and targeting, plus a built in computer capable of controlling its operation. It fires a range of speciality ammunition. An in-line gunsight shows the view directly down the barrel. A Lawgiver can only be operated by its designated Judge owner, whose palm print is programmed into the gun's memory.

An earlier weapon appeared in the Origins storyline. Though little was known about the gun itself, it was capable of firing standard and armour-piercing rounds.

Should an attempt be made by an unauthorised person to use the Lawgiver, it will explode in that person's hand. Recognising that this generally impractical safeguard can sometimes impede Judges in the execution of their duties, the Justice Department computers contain instructions on bypassing Lawgiver palm-recognition systems. These instructions can be accessed by senior Judges, but are generally employed only in severe emergencies. Judge Dredd demonstrates this process in the story "Goodnight Kiss" after his partner is killed by Jonni Kiss.

In the story "The Narcos Connection", criminal Nero Narcos sabotaged a new batch of upgraded lawgivers by programming them to self-destruct when used by their authorised users (once they received a radio signal, so the rogue command took effect in all weapons simultaneously). This resulted in large numbers of judges being crippled or killed at the precise moment they were attacked by Narcos's "Assassinator" robots at the beginning of the Second Robot War in 2121.

In the story "Dark Justice", Dredd is given a prototype of the Mark III, it is proven to malfunction when battling against the Dark Judges

Whether a Lawgiver can be fired by any Judge, or only a nominated user is inconsistently shown throughout the series. During Necropolis Judge Dredd uses a borrowed Lawgiver without repercussions, whereas Kraken loses his hand after his borrowed gun explodes. East Meg Judge Orlok uses a stolen Lawgiver to kill a weather satellite technician without difficulty, and assassin Vitus Dance is able to use his psionic abilities to fire a Lawgiver, although admits that had he not known about the failsafe he "...mighta fell right into that one!" In "Dead Reckoning", Dredd is shown disconnecting the grip sensors on another judge's lawgiver to allow him to use it.

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