Taser

“”Don't tase me, bro!

—Andrew Meyer

Largely defensive weapon of Taser.

A Taser™ is a weapon that fires small darts attached to electric wires with the intention of incapacitating the victim with very painful, but (usually) non-lethal jolts of electricity. Like Xerox or Skotch, the device is named after the manufacturer who makes these things. The darts are expelled by nitrogen gas, similar to paint ball and air guns. The electricity disables voluntary muscle use, resulting in the victim convulsing on the ground. Less powerful ones have been developed for use by civilians, but they are not legal in all locations.

Many tasers have another setting, "Drive Stun", which involves holding the taser to the victim. Unlike regular tasing, it does not incapacitate the nervous system, but instead just delivers unbelievable pain to the victim. Many groups have expressed concern that this is a form of torture.

Controversy

Tasers have become standard issue for police officers and security guards around the United States of America as a less lethal alternative to firearms. Other less than lethal weapons would be tear gas/pepper spray, rubber bullets, bean bag rounds, or similar devices. After a rash of questionable police shootings in major cities across the country, community activists began pressuring police departments to switch from guns to tasers.

However, rather than being an instrument of last resort, like firearms, tasers have become a first instrument of control. There have been reports of elementary school kids, old ladies and even unconscious, convulsing diabetics being tased due to being "uncooperative."

In some scenarios, however it is common for commentators to point out why an officer has not used a taser to stop a suspect that has been charging at them with a knife or other similar scenarios regarding viral incidents where firearms were used to respond to a dangerous person. Tasers require officers to be very close to the suspect to deploy and they have a notoriously high failure rate: both prongs are required to hit the suspect in order to function properly, and if one of them fails to hit the suspect for a variety of reasons, such as being caught in loose clothing, the taser will fail to work.

In 2010, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that such use of tasers is blatantly illegal. Now, it is left to see whether cops in general will abide by the ruling, and whether the US can get back to being a state where being slightly disruptive does not lead to 10,000 volts through your body.

Many European countries have completely forbidden the use of tasers, due to their high potential for misuse. Canada classifies them as a prohibited weapon (placing them alongside fully automatic firearms), but they are issued by some police departments and the RCMP. In Poland, however, they are even less restricted than in the US.

See also

• Police brutality