I’m watching this infomercial about a Taser called “C2” designed to be sold to the public and they’re showing various news clips of real Police Taser shots along with setup demonstrations with beefy, athletic guys (paid fairly well I hope) being taken out by Taser shots.
I’m not a fiend for pain, but like many guys you wonder if you could handle something like that, or would you just lose your s**t?
Anyone have some real life experience?
No, but I’ll bump this, 'cause I’m interested.
I seem to remember someone on this board describing their experience of deliberately tasing themselves out of curiosity. If I recall correctly, it was an unpleasant experience for him.
My son, who has some anger issues and authority problems, was tased last year when he did not follow police instructions. I have only heard him scream like that the time he tried to plug in a hair dryer with wet hands at 3 yo. He was tased in the upper thigh and said immediately after his leg felt loose like he had no control over it and it stung from his hip to mid-thigh.
I hope I never see my son tased again. I saw the video of the tased student and he sounded exactly like my son did. Gave me shivers, it did.
I used to date a guy who would repeatedly taser himself in the leg, so he could “get used to it.”
Right…
He was an idiot.
:eek:
Sounds like he was preparing to take a trip down the Psycho path.
Are you sure you’re not mistaking a Taser for a stun gun? Some Tasers can be used without firing the projectiles, but it’s much more common to use a stun gun or baton for direct contact. I think it is a good idea to shock yourself several times so that you can A. remind yourself that isn’t a toy, and B. learn to deal with the shock in a way that isn’t embarassing, or frightening.
And there’s no use discussing if you can “handle” the 5 second ride with a Taser since you aren’t really in control of your body and you’re forced to deal with it whether you like it or not. Screaming like a little girl has more to do with how you react to unpleasant surprises than how tough you are.
Tasers are just enhanced stun guns. The difference is what a stun gun won’t do, which is shoot projectile electrodes. The Tasers that cops use have a disposable nitrogen cartridge that is attached to the barrel at the end which discharges the electrodes when the gun is fired. Without the cartridge, Tasers act like regular stun guns in that the barrel end is touched to the skin and fired.
From Wikipedia’s entry on Tasers:
Also, police model Tasers may be equipped with settings which regulate how much voltage is discharged. By the way, Taser is a trademark; they are stun guns. Not all stun guns are Tasers, however.
It wasn’t the type with projectiles, but I’ve been stun gunned by cops. I was being arrested during an act of civil disobedience. At the time I was shocked, I was lying on the ground in a fetal position, having recently been pepper sprayed. I don’t remember pain, just uncontrollable shaking and complete confusion. I was scared shitless because I didn’t know what was going on, and I was not in control of my body. I was shocked several times, leaving scars on my ass and thigh.
Geez, liberty! You don’t sound like you were resisting at that point. Why exactly did they feel the need to shock you repeatedly? Did you ever get any explanation or file a complaint? If you don’t mind me asking…
My cousin is a police officer and he volunteered to be tased (part of their police academy training included getting pepper sprayed right in the eye at point blank range - they are supposed to know what the various levels of force they may have to apply actually feel like. I’ve seen the pepper spray video).
Anyhow back to tasers - he said that it felt like being punched all over his body, everywhere at once. He lost muscle control and fell down. Once the current was turned off he felt back to normal very quickly.
You’re completely right(except that not all Taser brand devices act like a regular stun gun without a cartridge) but most people associate “stun gun” with something like this: http://www.cactustactical.com/osc/images/120s.jpg and many confuse the issue by using the name Taser for any ol’ electroshock device.
Perhaps the poster’s boyfriend does have a Taser with the Drive Stun capability, but usually when you hear stories of people purposely shocking themselves it’s done using the type I linked too.
Jesus. Does the public have access to tasers now? Am I the only one who feels incredibly uncomfortable with the idea? Why do non-police need tasers?
ETA: according to the link, they suggest the commercial tasers for parents with “severely rambunctious children”. Yeah, anyone got a misbehaving child? Just taser him into submission :eek:
Hell no. Tasers me out like few other things do, and I’m completely opposed to law enforcement officers having them on hand. It’s simply too easy for them to be abused.
They have handguns and that can be abused too. I’d rather have a cop with a taser on hand so he/she can use nonlethal force if need be rather than only a handgun and the hope to only “wing” 'em. or a nightstick, whick I’m pretty sure can be as painful as being tased.
Unless you’re aware of a a trend of police using tasers on jaywalkers or something, theres no reason cops shouldn’t have them.
And much less safe, to boot.
Sorta like Kleenex, no? Successful branding at its most ubiquitous. The term ‘stun gun’ begins to look like an oxymoron, though, when it looks less like a gun than a ‘Taser’. Weird, huh?
I highly doubt he’s using a police model taser/stun device unless he’s a cop. I’m aware of the fact that they are also marketed to consumers in other non-gun-looking styles. No doubt there’s a difference between being tased/shocked by a police officer and tased/shocked by yourself or some private citizen. The intimidation and authority has got to be a factor. Also, as I mentioned, some police models have a variable voltage that can probably deliver a more powerful shock than consumer models.
I have really contemplated this statement and I’m feeling very torn on the subject of parents using it on their children. My son (the one who was tased) has Oppositional Defiance couple with ADHD, creating a situation where he is angry, impulsive and dismissive of authority. As he’s gotten older and when he is off his medication, his temper flares are scary and emotionally conflicting for us. It’s very hard for parents in this situation to determine the best course of action when a child is physically and emotionally out of control. My husband has had to physically restrain him to prevent him from hurting himself and further damaging property. This, in itself, opens up the risk of injury to both parties as well as the potential to raise the eyebrows of child protective services. That’s nerve-wracking knowing that while you aren’t intentionally trying to abuse your child, there’s a very fine line between what is deemed acceptable/reasonable and what constitutes abuse, once social services is involved. Often, the letter of the law (what the police will arrest you for) and the policies of social services (what they will remove your children from your home for) are different. You can only hope that case workers are responsible in their investigations. Sometimes, having social services is involved is a good thing, but almost always it’s worrisome. But I digress…
Electroshock devices, used properly, appear to be very effective in diffusing a combative situation. Anecdotally, I can say it worked sufficiently on my son in getting him to comply with the officers’ instructions. He suffered no ill effects after the fact and, from my point of view, the force used was not excessive. (He may argue differently, however.) However, any kind of intense physical contact or application of pain by a parent subduing a child is generally risky. The legal aspects with regard to child abuse is sometimes vague and subjective – not always black and white.
That being said, though I believe this might be a safe and viable option for parents in this situation, I don’t think I could do it myself. Mainly because I don’t want my child to hurt and I don’t want to hurt him. But I can understand, under the conditions I describe above, why someone would consider shocking an option. For anything less (rambunctious child? Define ‘rambunctious’.) is, IMHO, over the top and should be looked at as detrimental for the child.
You may find this interesting, given my son’s experience, but I am not opposed to Taser use by law enforcement. The fact is that police abuse and brutality has existed before electroshock weapons were even issued, and is independent of the type of weapon wielded by the abusive officer. Being abused by a Taser is not more or less serious than being beaten to a pulp (or sodomized) with a baton. It is not more or less serious than shooting a person unnecessarily. It is not more or less serious than being pepper sprayed irresponsibly. It is not more or less serious than abusive kicking, punching, applying unsafe levels of pressure to head or chest, et cetera. The point is that the abuse is the problem, not the means with which it is administered.
Tasers are (generally) non-lethal devices designed to cause enough pain to a) force the suspect into compliance and b) to a certain extent, incapacitate the suspect. Used properly, I believe in its effectiveness. Used improperly, as with any other means, it can be dangerous. Blame the usage, not the device.
As for consumer use as a personal protection device, like pepper spray, it can give someone the opportunity to escape or seek assistance without likely causing severe harm to either the attacker or putting the user at excessive risk while administering it.
Pardon my grammatical errors above due to on-the-fly revisions. I missed the edit window.
Ok, well, since nobody else has stepped up with first-hand experience… I’ve been Tased as part of a Taser demonstration. It was a police model Taser (X26) — the kind that shoots projectiles. Obviously, they didn’t shoot me with the Taser because the barbs are designed to embed in your skin (and typically get removed by a doctor). What they had done is replaced the barbs with alligator clips. Clip those to the back of your shirt and voila.
When I got zapped, the first feeling I got was that my body locked up as tense as it could get. Flex your muscles as hard as you can and hold the flex. That’s how I felt. I think that’s typically the moment when most people drop to the floor (depending on where the barbs hit, of course). After locking up, that’s when the pain kicked in. It felt rhythmic to me — I could feel the pulses of electricity. The pain seemed to gradually build until, at the end of the shock, it was almost completely unbearable. I didn’t scream, but I was gritting my teeth and making a pretty agonized face. (My buddy taped it, so I was able to watch myself).
I was shocked for 5 seconds, which is pretty typical for a police model. Just long enough for them to get in there and cuff someone. Civilian models typically shock for much longer (around 30 seconds). They are designed to shoot an attacker with the Taser, throw down the Taser, and use the shock time for escape. Honestly, I can’t freaking imagine getting shocked that long. That would definitely end my career as a mugger.
Lasting effects? I had two small marks where the electricity arced into my body. Not unlike small burns — more irritating than anything else. Also, for about 10 minutes after the shock, there was a slight burning odor to me. Seriously. Like Valgard’s cousin, once the current was turned off, I was able to walk around, talk, etc., just like normal.
All-in-all, given the choice of being hit with a nightstick, shot with a gun, bitten by a dog, or pepper-sprayed, I’d take the Taser.
A friend of my brother’s walked up to me after high school a few eyars ago with a Taser like apparatus and applied it to me. I saw three points of of bright blue/white light (some visual analagous to the prongs, not the big three) and hit the ground. I got up unsteadily and called the guy a Nixon, no harm done.
