Thought in the Shell: HERF Alone Complex

Something I noticed about GitS:SAC is the obvious lack of HERF guns and HPM weaponry.

You’d think that some overbearing bastard who wanted to shut Motoko and crew down permanently would try whacking ‘em with one of these, but it doesn’t happen.
Nor, by the way, does anyone stage some sort of stunt, threatening to seriously fuck something up with one shot.

Are they in possession of shielding that protects against a HERF shot, which could also explain why a prosthetic body weighs about 1000 lbs? Or, are they somehow immune to the effects of a high energy blast of radio frequencies?
Or, perhaps, Mr. Shirow and crew were unaware of HERF / HPM weaponry when GitS and GitS:SAC were written?

Since I noticed that the world they live in is quite comparable to ours, with a more natural progression in weaponry — No laser rifles, but lots of progression in prosthetics to the point that they can replace entire bodies if needed, though it’d be expensive — You would figure that a nasty little bugger like a HERF or HPM weapon would show up.

Maybe that’s in Second Gig or something.