Tasers
Tasers are electroshock weapons that temporarily incapacitate by using a electrical jolt to cause muscle paralysis. Now, I don’t even like a carpet shock so you won’t find me toting this!
The term Taser is an acronym for Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle. It was named for the science fictional teenage character Tom Swift by its inventor Jack Cover. The technology requires the use of high voltage to deliver a low electrical current through the resistance of the human body. This causes extreme pain and uncontrolled muscle twitching/spasms. The higher the voltage, the more effective the jolt. Stun guns, stun batons and stun flashlights deliver an electric shock by direct contact. You must be in close enough to physically touch the attacker and hope he doesn’t over power you and take your device away from you before he is fully incapacitated. Some experts insist that the electroshock needs to be uninterrupted for more than five seconds to stop a determined attacker effectively. That’s a long time to hold someone who is larger and stronger than yourself (they probably wouldn’t attack you if they weren’t in the first place). Taser rifles fire dart-like electrodes with attached metal wires that are connected to the gun to a range of 10 meters. Although earlier models require skin penetration and had difficulty breaching heavy clothing, newer “pulse” models can drop someone wearing a Level III body amour vest. So now you don’t have to be so close, but you have to know when to make the shot and have a fair aim. There is controversy as to whether they have caused deaths. Some people have died after being “tazed”, but other reasons are usually found to be the primary cause of death. Some organizations such as Amnesty International allege that tasers are inhuman. A number of civil liberties groups favor seeing them banned.
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