Stun Guns
An electroshock gun, also referred to as a stun gun, is a weapon used for subduing a person by firing something which administers electric shock, disrupting superficial muscle functions. A Taser is a well-known device of this type.
A stun baton does the same by administering an electric shock by contact without firing anything.
Electroshock Guns
Supporters say that stun guns are a safer alternative to devices
such as firearms. Taser brand of stun guns were originally marketed
as "non-lethal" devices. However, based on the judgements of the
SEC, this has had to be amended as "less-lethal" devices.
Between September 1999 and October 2004, there were 73 cases of
deaths of subjects soon after having been shocked using Tasers. Of
these cases:
* In 8 cases, medical examiners said Tasers were a cause or a
contributing factor or could not be ruled out as a cause of death.
* In 18 cases coroners and other officials stated that Tasers were
not a factor.
* In most of the 73 cases, drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine,
and PCP were concluded to be the major factor leading to death.
* In many cases pre-existing cardiovascular conditions or other
medical conditions were stated to be a factor.
* Several deaths occurred as a result of injuries sustained in
struggles. In a few of these cases head injury due to falling after
being shocked contributed to later death.
These incidents form a very small percentage of many tens of
thousands of operational uses of tasers.
Various lawsuits against the manufacturers and users of stun guns
are pending, but many court judgements have dismissed lawsuits by
finding evidence of preexisting conditions, ranging from excited
delirium (caused by a subject's interaction with high levels of
drug-use) which may be a factor before cardiac arrest, and
preexisting osteoarthritis which may make bone fracture more likely
when the device is used on the subject.
Critics argue that although the medical conditions or illegal
drug-taking of some of these casualties, may have been the proximate
cause, the use of the taser may have significantly heightened the
risk of death for those suspects in an at-risk category. Therefore,
they argue, this suggests that tasers and other electroshock weapons
may be too dangerous to use on people with certain medical
conditions. Furthermore, since police officers will typically not
know about a person's medical conditions or the contents of his/her
bloodstream, this entails a risk of death with virtually any
suspect.
Supporters say that stun guns and tasers are more effective than any
other means including pepper-spray (an eye irritant/breathing
irritant), batons (and other conventional ways of inflicting pain),
hand-to-hand combat (i.e. wrestling a subject to the ground), or
even hand guns, at bringing a subject down to the ground with a
minimum physical exertion, and with a minimum of potential for
injury. Stun-guns have a direct link to reduced injury from use of
physical force, and are attributed to saving human lives by use as
an alternative to the use of firearms to subdue violent or
out-of-control subjects. However, critics charge that police
officers who are risk-averse will also resort to tasers in
situations where previously they would have used more conventional,
less "extreme" techniques, such as trying to reason with a cornered
suspect.
Legal restrictions
Electroshock guns are generally used for self-defense, or by law
enforcement to subdue, for example, an out-of-control prisoner. They
are illegal or subject to legal restrictions on their availability
and use in many jurisdictions. Reports of the devices being used for
torture or as interrogation tools have led the United States to
place restrictions on export of the devices. Critics point out that
any country could easily duplicate these devices, which are
relatively simple.
Flammability
Tasers come with express instructions to not utilize them in areas
where flammable liquids or fumes may be present, such as filling
stations or meth labs. Tasers, like other electric devices, have
been found to ignite flammable materials.
An evaluative study carried out by the Home Office investigated the
potential for tasers to ignite CS gas. Seven trials were conducted,
in which CS gas canisters containing methyl isobutyl ketone (a
solvent used in all CS sprays utilized by the United Kingdom police)
were sprayed over mannequins wearing street clothing. The tasers
were then fired at the mannequins. In two of the seven trials, "the
flames produced were severe and engulfed the top half of the
mannequin, including the head". This poses a particular problem for
law enforcement, as normal police doctrine needs use of CS before
the use of a taser.[8]
In another case, a man's shirt caught on fire after one of the taser
spikes hit a cigarette lighter in his pocket; he suffered minor
burns, but was treated for two self-inflicted knife wounds, which
had needed use of the Taser to take him into protective custody.
Use in schools and on minors
Police officers that patrol schools, including grade schools, in
several US states (including Kansas, Minnesota and Florida),
currently carry tasers. In 2004, the parents of a 6-year old boy in
Miami sued the police department for tasering their child. The
police said the boy was threatening to injure his leg with a shard
of glass, and claimed that using the taser was the only option to
stop the boy injuring himself.[9]
Supporters of taser use in schools argue that merely switching on
the device, and threatening to use it, can be effective in
frightening violent or uncooperative students into desisting from
inappropriate behavior, in cases where verbal reprimands have not
succeeded. Critics counter that tasers may interact with preexisting
medical complications such as medications, and may even contribute
to someone's death as a result. Thus, critics say, they should
either be prohibited altogether in schools, or classified as
possibly-lethal weapons and as a consequence, should be regulated
extremely tightly. Critics also argue that using a taser on a minor,
and especially a young child, effectively acts as cruel and abusive
punishment, and therefore it should be banned on the same grounds
that other, older forms of physical punishment such as canings have
been banned from use in many schools.
There has been at least one case of students using improvised
electroshock guns in a school. In March 2005, several high school
students in Maine faced charges when another student reported that
they had been playing with improvised stun guns and testing them on
themselves and fellow students. The devices were made from
disposable cameras with a 330-volt electric charge, which, while not
strong enough to cause severe injury, could be fatal to a person
with a condition such as arrhythmia.[citation needed]
Political suppression
Stun guns have been used at political protests such as those by the
anti-globalization movement. Members of this movement have argued
that the technology, and other "non-lethal" weapons, are likely to
become tools for suppressing legitimate protest.
Torture
The use of stun belts has been condemned by Amnesty International as
torture, not only for the physical pain the devices cause, but also
for their heightened abuse potential, due to their perceived
"harmlessness" in terms of causing inital injuries like f.e.
ordinary police batons do. Amnesty International has reported
several cases of excessive electroshock gun use, that amounts to
torture, among others the death of an individual after being struck
12 times with a Taser in Miramar, Florida.[10] They have also raised
extensive concerns about the use of other electro-shock devices by
American police and in American prisons, as they can be (and
according to Amnesty International, sometimes are) used to inflict
cruel pain on individuals without leaving the telltale markings that
a conventional beating might. The American Civil Liberties Union has
also raised concerns about their use. There have been several
well-publicized instances in which stun belts were accidentally
activated by careless court personnel and criminal defendants were
shocked for no justifiable reason.
Electric shocks have been used as an instrument of torture in many
countries around the world, because they can be applied over a
prolonged period of time without severely injuring or killing.
Doubts over their effectiveness as self-defense weapons
Although these devices are usually advertised as very effective
"personal defense" weapons, many security operators and martial arts
experts genuinely doubt their effectiveness against determined and
physically strong aggressors in a real melee combat situation and
their value as a defense weapon in general.
They claim that "stun-guns" need much more continuous and
uninterrupted contact time with one's intended target than usually
advertised, well above 5 seconds, to effectively stop a determined
assailant, and that much time can be impossible to achieve against a
physically superior or better-trained opponent in close unarmed
combat. They claim that in such an event, the likely outcome would
probably be merely irritating the assailant and have the "stun-gun"
being broken, taken away, or used against oneself for retaliation,
after giving its intended user a false sense of security and
power.[11][12]
It is argued that this declassifies all but the most powerful of
Electroshock/Stun guns into self-assurance, last-resort
pseudo-weapons or even mere torture instruments only effective in
delivering pain to subjects who would not be able to escape or
effectively defend themselves anyway.
Commercially available varieties
Electric shock prods
This type is similar to basic design to an electric cattle prod. It
has a metal end split into two parts electrically insulated from
each other, or two thin projecting metal electrodes about an inch
apart, at an end of a shaft which contains the batteries and
mechanism. At the other end of the shaft is a handle and a switch.
Both electrodes must touch the subject. In some types the sides of
the baton can be electrified to stop the subject from grasping the
baton above the electrodes. They are often carried in a sheath slung
on a belt. Some such devices are available disguised as other
objects, such as umbrellas or cell-phones or pens. Sometimes they
have an option to make a noisy visible electric arc between the
electrodes, to warn suspects.
Some models built into long flashlights which are designed also to
administer an electric shock with its lit end's metal surround
(which is split into halves insulated from each other). [2] [3]
In the beginning police used electric cattle prods for this purpose.
Taser
A TASER is any member of a family of the most commercially
recognized brand of electroshock guns, produced by TASER
International. The name Taser is an acronym: "Thomas A. Swift's
Electric Rifle". It was designed in 1969 by Arizona inventor Jack
Cover; he named it for the science fiction teenage inventor and
adventurer character Tom Swift.
Modern taser-type weapons fire small dart-like electrodes with
attached metal wires that connect to the gun, propelled by small gas
charges similar to some air rifle propellants. The maximum range is
up to 10 meters (30 feet). Earlier models of Taser needed the
dart-like electrodes to embed in the skin and superficial muscle
tissues layers; newer versions of the projectiles use a shaped pulse
/ arc of electricity which disrupt nerve and muscle function without
needing the metal prongs on the projectile to penetrate the skin.
Early models had difficulty in penetrating thick clothing, but the
`pulse' models are designed to bring down a subject wearing up to a
Level III body armor vest.
Tasers are currently in use by a number of police forces world-wide
to try to reduce lethal firearms-related deaths. The Phoenix Police
Department reported that officer shootings had dropped as a result
from the use of TASER technology as an alternative to deadly force.
Uses of a TASER device in this department increased from 71 in the
year 2002 to 164 in the year 2003. Additionally, the number of
officer-involved shootings decreased by 7 during this time
period.[4]
However, there is controversy about tasers. While they may not be
considered technically "lethal", many question both the degree of
safety presented by the weapon and the ethical implications of using
a weapon that many judge to be inhumane. As a result, a number of
civil liberties groups would like to see them banned.
Wire-less long-range electric shock weapon
This weapon fires a projectile which administers an electric shock
without needing a connecting wire. See TASER International#Wire-less
long-range electric shock weapon.
Stun belts
A stun belt is a belt that is fastened around the subject's waist or
leg or arm which carries a battery and control pack and contains
features to stop the subject from unfastening or removing it. A
remote control signal is sent to tell the battery pack to give the
subject an electric shock. Some models are activated by the
subject's movement.
The United States uses these devices to control prisoners. One type
is the REACT belt. Some stun belts can restrain the subject's hands
and have a strap going under the subject's crotch to stop him from
rotating the belt around his waist trying to deactivate it. Stun
belts are not generally available to the public.
Prototype designs
Due to increased interest in developing less-lethal weapons, mainly
from the US military, a number of new types of stun gun are being
researched. They are designed to provide a "ranged" non-lethal
weapon.
Weapons that administer electric shock through a stream of fluid
Prototype stun guns exist which replace the solid wire with a stream
of conductive liquid (essentially salty water) which offers the
range of a Taser (or better) and the possibility of multiple shots.
See Electrified water cannon. Difficulties associated with this
experimental design include:
* “Non-continuous” discharge onto subject: liquid stream needs over
30 feet and over 5 second discharge.
* “Pooling” of electrified liquid at base of subject, making
apprehension of subject difficult by observing officers.
* Need to carry a large tank of the liquid used, and a propellant
canister, like a “water gun”, to administer consecutive bursts of
liquid over distances.
Another design, announced by Rheinmetall W&M as a prototype in 2003,
uses an aerosol as the conductive medium. The manufacturers called
it a “Plasma Taser”; however this is only a marketing name, and the
weapon does not use plasma. Problems associated with this design
include:
* Poor electrical conductivity.
* Range of concept design is nominal (a gas cannot be propelled
greater than 10 feet effectively).
* The “gassing effect”: all subjects in enclosed spaces are
subjected to same effects (if any: see poor electrical
conductivity).
Electrolaser
Other known or rumored variants include the electrolaser, which uses
blooming of a laser beam to create a conductive channel of ionised
air (plasma) to carry the electric shock.
Principles of operation
Stun gun technology uses a temporary high-voltage low-current
electrical discharge to override the body's superficial
muscle-triggering mechanisms. The recipient is immobilized via two
metal probes (darts) connected via metal wires from the stun gun
usually penetrating the human skin, and superficial muscle. The
recipient that is 'connected' to a stun gun feels great pain and can
be momentarily paralyzed (only so long as there is an electrical
current being applied) because his muscles are receiving electrical
'shock'. The (relatively) low electric current must be pushed by
(relatively) high voltage to overcome the electrical resistance of
the human body. The resultant 'shock' is caused by muscles twitching
uncontrollably, appearing as muscle spasms. However, because the
amount of current is relatively low, there is considered to be a
'margin' of safety by a number of medical experts upon usage on
humans. To date, scientific experiments to determine the effects on
human cardio-pulmonary and respiratory functions have shown no
significant findings of lasting effect.
In current stun-gun models, the amperage is relatively low (2.1 mA
to 3.6 mA) which is based in part on the electrical supply, (for
example M-26 Taser models use eight AA batteries). Electrical
current above 100 mA is considered to be potentially lethal to
humans.
The internal circuits of most stun-guns are fairly simple, either
based on an oscillator, resonant circuit and step-up transformer or
diode-capacitor voltage multipliers to achieve the continuous,
direct or alternating high-voltage discharge may be powered by one
or more 9 V battery depending on manufacturer, and model. The output
voltages without external "load" (which would be the target's body)
can range from 50 kV up to 900 kV, with the most common being in the
200 to 300 kV range. The output current upon contact with the target
will depend on various factors such as target's resistance, skin
type, moisture, bodily salinity, clothing, the stun-gun's internal
circuitry and battery conditions.
According to the many sources, a shock of half a second duration
will cause intense pain and muscle contractions startling most
people greatly. Two to three seconds will often cause the subject to
become dazed and drop to the ground, and over three seconds will
usually completely disorient and drop an attacker for at least
several minutes and possibly for up to fifteen minutes.
Controversies
Deaths associated with stun-gun use