Editing Mace (section)

==Maces Out of Warfare==
[[image:Maceoftheunitedstates.jpg|thumb|100px|right|Mace of the United States House of Representatives. Disciplining unruly Congressmen since 1842.]]
Maces became a symbol associated with knights and representative of their ideals; nobility, law, and education. As such, many groups co-opted the mace as a symbol of authority, especially universities and parliaments. These ritual maces were made more elaborate, decorated, and bejeweled to show the wealth and strength of the organization in question, and later became synonymous with the existing scepters used by royalty. They're still used today for formal occasions.

One variant of the mace popular with police is the expanding baton, a small metal mace which collapses into the grip. Less lethal, but quite possibly deadly. Unfortunately, the baton has been abused in several high profile cases, and a (completely wrong) public view that pepper spray and tasers are sufficient less lethal options has led to the baton being phased out in many departments. Replacing it is a weapon that's actually ''more'' likely to be lethal, but looks completely innocuous: Flashlights. While electronics have advanced so far that portable flashlights can easily be the size of a large pen, and really powerful ones can still be thinner than two fingers, large flashlights with heavy batteries and an endcap designed to transfer maximum force (while the untrained eye only sees it shaped for easier battery changes) make really good maces, and have the added advantage of being able to temporarily blind an opponent. This is a large part of why cops grip flashlights the way they do.