“Compare TASERs to stun guns” – people often question how a TASER® C2™ electronic control device (ECD) is different from a stun gun. A TASER ECD can incapacitate a person by overriding the signals from the brain to the muscles. A stun gun on the other hand will only cause localized pain & requires direct contact to the person. Keep in mind that a TASER ECD can also be used as a stun gun.
A TASER ECD allows the user to keep some distance from the attacker and automatically delivers its Neuromuscular Incapacition effects for 30 seconds. Stun guns require direct continuous contact which can be challenging during an attack.
A stun gun only affects the nervous system (OUCH!) while a TASER ECD when deployed in probe mode affects the nervous system & the muscular system (OUCH & INCAPACITATION!). Stun guns just hurt but a TASER ECD probe deployment has the ability to incapacitate.
“How a TASER ECD works” -yet another common question. A C2 has a push button that triggers two probes to deploy by compressed nitrogen. These two probes then make contact with skin or clothing, electrical impulses overpower sensory & motor nerves, and the attacker loses nueromuscular control. While the person is incapacitated you have time to get to safety & call 911.
TASER versus Stun Gun
Remember, if you use it to prevent an attack in self-defense, you place the C2 on the ground and let it do the work for you. TASER’s lifetime replacement guarantee kicks in if you use your C2 in self defense (don’t forget we need a police report). Stay safe & protect life.
To further aciplmocte things, officer-subject factors need to be taken into account when arguing against using Tasers in a non-lethal force situation. (or can officer-subject factors play a role whether or not deadly force is justified in a given situation)I wrote the above comment to which you responded. I am a 100-pound female officer. I ride solo. Quick story:A few summers ago, I arrived on the scene of a fight in progress. A 6’2″, 300 pounds 17-year-old kid was attacking his father on the stairs. As I advised on the air that I was on-scene, my only available back-up advised that he was coming from a location that was across town. Hearing the shouts from inside the house, I advised him to step it up but knew that in mid-afternoon traffic on a weekday it would still be a good five-ten minutes before he arrived, lights and sirens and all.When I entered the house, the kid was still pummeling away at his middle-aged obese Hispanic father, who was sweating and gasping and begging for help. The kid ignored my orders to, in so many words, effing stop what he was doing. The kid’s mother and sisters were screaming for me to do something, the kid’s father was in poor health, had a heart condition, etc. I warned the kid to get off his dad or he was getting the Taser. No way was I going hands-on with this maniac all by myself. I’m in good shape but he out-weighed me by 200 pounds and was in a crazed rage. One more blow to dad’s face and the kid got the prongs. Dad squirmed away and I got the kid in cuffs (after another Taser blast). My back-up got there about five minutes later.Perhaps a non-lethal force situation, but one that could have quickly escalated if I tried to play hero. No doubt the kid coulda knocked me on my ass if I’d tried a compliance hold or some other empty hand control technique. Incidentally, once in cuffs, the kid hastily apologized and it was yes-ma’am-no-ma’am after that. He was so polite and chubby that I wound up feeling horribly guilty (especially when I later removed a marble-sized chunk of flesh along with one of the Taser prongs) but I was confident that he was in such an emotional state I couldn’t have handled it in any other way. HIs family assured me he had mental problems and were grateful I took the action I did. Lucky me. Anyway, I think the Taser was the appropriate level of force in that situation given officer-subject factors and my concern for the dad. But would the Taser still have been justified if there were two officers present or if I matched the kid in size and strength? Bottom line is I think that in general, Tasers are a great weapon when used under appropriate circumstances, whatever that may be. I just don’t think they should be tested on officers.
That’s all well and good. But what about when they’re not fighting?I’ve got nnohitg against the Taser, a less-lethal weapon, being used in appropriate situations. To me, a fight is an appropriate situation, given the low risk of death from Taser. Also any situation where lethal-force is an option, of course.My problem is when the Taser is used, as it is all too often, as an alternative to non-lethal force.It’s wrong to use a potentially lethal weapon as a means of compliance when faced with a non-threatening suspect. Police have hands. Police have batons. Police have pepper spray. All, used correctly, are non-lethal. I know you could kill somebody with a baton. But honestly, I’ve never heard of a single case of a suspect dying from an accidentally misplaced police baton strike. Not one. I assume it’s happened somewhere, but can you give me one example?So I’m counting a well-used baton as non-lethal. The Taser is potentially lethal even when used correctly.I’m strongly against Tasers in a “put you hands behind you back” situation when non-lethal force (or more talking) is always an option.
This is good in that it will give lawyers more ammo in wunogfrl death lawsuits. Hopefully it will cause departments to alter their taser policy, unfortunately, i have a feeling they will alter their policies badly.One bad way they can alter their policy is by mandating shooting below the waist. This is totally detrimental to the officers manual of arms as everyone is taught to shoot center of mass. For that reason alone such a policy is unaceptable.A better solution is simply to change the guidelines to bump the taser a lot closer to the sidearm on the force continuum. Then officers can continue to shoot center of mass, just in fewer, more justifiable scenarios.
yes, tasers can sometimes be more effective than stun guns because of the range (not giving the attacker the chance to take away your line of defense against them in close range)but also the incapacitation of the motor sensories, temporarily disabling the attacker.Although a stun gun is easier to conceal and looks less like a weapon than say the slightly gun resembling m26c taser or the x26c taser guns. One other important thing to note is that the gun does expel tags that fall all over the ground with a code that easily traces back to the purchaser, making it harder for someone to use them wrongfully as a weapon instead of their main purpose of self defense or personal protection, as these expelled tags would take time to pick them all up and making a quick escape for a would be thief not so easy.