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Taser
Taser (stylized in all caps) is a line of handheld conducted energy devices (CED) sold by Axon Enterprise (formerly Taser International). The device fires two small barbed darts intended to puncture the skin and remain attached to the target until removed by the user of the device. The darts are connected to the main unit by thin wires that achieve a high dielectric strength and durability given the extremely high-voltage electric current they conduct (typically 50,000 volts, or 2,000 volts under load), which can be delivered in short-duration pulses from a core of copper wire in the main unit. This enormous rush of voltage into the body produces effects ranging from localized pain to strong involuntary long muscle contractions, causing "neuromuscular incapacitation" (NMI), based on the mode of use (tasing frequency and environmental factors) and connectivity of the darts. When successfully used, the target is said to have been "tased".
The first Taser conducted energy weapon was introduced in 1993 as a less-lethal option for police to use to subdue belligerent or fleeing suspects, who might otherwise need to be subdued with more lethal means such as firearms. As of 2010[update], according to one study, over 15,000 law enforcement and military agencies around the world used Tasers as part of their use of force continuum. In the United States, Tasers are marketed as less-lethal (as opposed to non-lethal), since the possibility of serious injury or death still exists whenever the weapon is deployed. At least 49 people died in 2018 after being shocked by police with a Taser. Personal-use Tasers are marketed in the US but prohibited in Canada, where there is a categorical ban on all conducted energy weapons such as stun guns and Tasers, except for use by law enforcement.
A 2009 report by the Police Executive Research Forum in the United States found that police officer injuries dropped by 76% in large law enforcement agencies that deployed Taser devices in the first decade of the 21st century compared with those that did not use them at all. Axon and its CEO Rick Smith have claimed that unspecified "police surveys" show that the device has "saved 75,000 lives through 2011".
Tasers have a long history of use to prevent the escape of dangerous suspects without needing to resort to lethal force, or used to capture suspects without risking serious injuries to either the officer or the suspect. A United States patent by Kunio Shimizu titled "Arrest device" filed in 1966 describes an electrical discharge gun with a projectile connected to a wire with a pair of electrode needles for skin attachment.
Jack Cover, a NASA researcher, began developing the first Taser in 1969. By 1974, Cover had completed the device, which he named Taser, using a loose acronym inspired by the title of the 1911 novel Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle, a book written by the Stratemeyer Syndicate under the pseudonym Victor Appleton and featuring Cover's childhood hero, Tom Swift. The name made sense, given that the Taser delivers an electric shock. This was also done on the pattern of laser, as both a Taser and a laser fire a "beam" of energy at an object.
The first Taser model that was offered for sale, called the Taser Public Defender, used gunpowder as its propellant, which led the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to classify it as a firearm in 1976.
Former Taser International CEO Patrick Smith testified in a Taser-related lawsuit that the catalyst for the development of the device was the "shooting death of two of his high school acquaintances" by a "guy with a legally licensed gun who lost his temper".
In 1993, Rick Smith and his brother Thomas founded the original company, Taser, and began to investigate what they called "safer use of force option[s] for citizens and law enforcement". At their Scottsdale, Arizona facilities, the brothers worked with Cover to develop a "non-firearm Taser electronic control device". The 1994 Air Taser Model 34000 conducted energy device had an "anti-felon identification (AFID) system" to prevent the likelihood that the device would be used by criminals; upon use, it released many small pieces of paper containing the serial number of the Taser device. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) stated that the Air Taser conducted energy device was not a firearm.
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Taser
Taser (stylized in all caps) is a line of handheld conducted energy devices (CED) sold by Axon Enterprise (formerly Taser International). The device fires two small barbed darts intended to puncture the skin and remain attached to the target until removed by the user of the device. The darts are connected to the main unit by thin wires that achieve a high dielectric strength and durability given the extremely high-voltage electric current they conduct (typically 50,000 volts, or 2,000 volts under load), which can be delivered in short-duration pulses from a core of copper wire in the main unit. This enormous rush of voltage into the body produces effects ranging from localized pain to strong involuntary long muscle contractions, causing "neuromuscular incapacitation" (NMI), based on the mode of use (tasing frequency and environmental factors) and connectivity of the darts. When successfully used, the target is said to have been "tased".
The first Taser conducted energy weapon was introduced in 1993 as a less-lethal option for police to use to subdue belligerent or fleeing suspects, who might otherwise need to be subdued with more lethal means such as firearms. As of 2010[update], according to one study, over 15,000 law enforcement and military agencies around the world used Tasers as part of their use of force continuum. In the United States, Tasers are marketed as less-lethal (as opposed to non-lethal), since the possibility of serious injury or death still exists whenever the weapon is deployed. At least 49 people died in 2018 after being shocked by police with a Taser. Personal-use Tasers are marketed in the US but prohibited in Canada, where there is a categorical ban on all conducted energy weapons such as stun guns and Tasers, except for use by law enforcement.
A 2009 report by the Police Executive Research Forum in the United States found that police officer injuries dropped by 76% in large law enforcement agencies that deployed Taser devices in the first decade of the 21st century compared with those that did not use them at all. Axon and its CEO Rick Smith have claimed that unspecified "police surveys" show that the device has "saved 75,000 lives through 2011".
Tasers have a long history of use to prevent the escape of dangerous suspects without needing to resort to lethal force, or used to capture suspects without risking serious injuries to either the officer or the suspect. A United States patent by Kunio Shimizu titled "Arrest device" filed in 1966 describes an electrical discharge gun with a projectile connected to a wire with a pair of electrode needles for skin attachment.
Jack Cover, a NASA researcher, began developing the first Taser in 1969. By 1974, Cover had completed the device, which he named Taser, using a loose acronym inspired by the title of the 1911 novel Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle, a book written by the Stratemeyer Syndicate under the pseudonym Victor Appleton and featuring Cover's childhood hero, Tom Swift. The name made sense, given that the Taser delivers an electric shock. This was also done on the pattern of laser, as both a Taser and a laser fire a "beam" of energy at an object.
The first Taser model that was offered for sale, called the Taser Public Defender, used gunpowder as its propellant, which led the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to classify it as a firearm in 1976.
Former Taser International CEO Patrick Smith testified in a Taser-related lawsuit that the catalyst for the development of the device was the "shooting death of two of his high school acquaintances" by a "guy with a legally licensed gun who lost his temper".
In 1993, Rick Smith and his brother Thomas founded the original company, Taser, and began to investigate what they called "safer use of force option[s] for citizens and law enforcement". At their Scottsdale, Arizona facilities, the brothers worked with Cover to develop a "non-firearm Taser electronic control device". The 1994 Air Taser Model 34000 conducted energy device had an "anti-felon identification (AFID) system" to prevent the likelihood that the device would be used by criminals; upon use, it released many small pieces of paper containing the serial number of the Taser device. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) stated that the Air Taser conducted energy device was not a firearm.