Semi-tazer fires one electrode dart only into the suspect, as a warning that the second one can quickly follow if needed, completing the circuit.-- xenzag, May 01 2012 If I got one of these I'd simply pull it out, before the user could fire the second dart. Sorry, it's a nice idea but not terribly useful.-- UnaBubba, May 01 2012 It would be simpler and cheaper to just say "I have a Taser! Put down the Hello Kitty Rocket Launcher and step away from the rhinoceros!"-- Alterother, May 01 2012 Many tazer darts have barbs and require minor surgery to pull out.-- xenzag, May 02 2012 The police in the UK record every usage of a taser - it turns out that nearly everyone surrenders as soon as the officer takes the taser gun out of the holster or when the officer turns on the taser's "red dot" laser sighting.-- hippo, May 02 2012 I've seen meth heads on "Cops" take up to three or four or them. Nothing can stop them when they are in fear of getting caught.-- blissmiss, May 02 2012 Really this would require the ability to fire two or more additional darts. Those scofflaws who simply pull out a warning dart will find themselves penetrated by a welter of many darts of various shapes and colors. The tazer holder might have a dial indicating which of the several darts should be charged with current, as current running thru different parts of the body might have different effects. The skillful use of this system could be done so as to direct the muscles of the one tazed to perform various dances. In the name of law and order, of course.-- bungston, May 02 2012 /it turns out that nearly everyone surrenders as soon as the officer takes the taser gun out of the holster or when the officer turns on the taser's "red dot" laser sighting./
Some method needs to be devised so these preambles to taser use are less obvious. Don't UK police wear those tall hats? Certainly they used to, and those hats are probably still around. Maybe the taser(s) could be stationed in the hat, triggered by a fierce brow crinkle.-- bungston, May 02 2012 //it turns out that nearly everyone surrenders as soon as the officer takes the taser gun out of the holster or when the officer turns on the taser's "red dot" laser sighting. //
I've heard the same thing. Last year I was chatting with a Maine State Trooper who brought his dog in for a check-up and vaccInes; I can't remember how we got onto the topic, but we ended up in a mutually informative discussion of non-lethals (he'd never heard of Stingballs), and he told me this: the most popular brand of taser has two shots, and he said that he had used his on several occasions, firing one shot and releasing the trigger after just a second to, in his words, "give the subject a little taste" before "giving them both barrels" and administering a longer sustained shock if they continue to resist. I don't know if this practice is widespread, but he claimed that he'd subdued combative individuals with the 'warning shot' alone more often than not.
I've experienced a split-second jolt from a hand-held stun gun that a (female) college friend carried, and it was... extremely painful and unpleasant with effects that lasted several minutes, so I find the cop's story quite believable.
I've also been indirectly maced (in an accidental discharge at a rock concert; some chick's self-defense key fob exploded in a mosh pit). I'm not sure which was worse, that or the stun gun.-- Alterother, May 02 2012 My understanding of these gadgets is that they pass a high voltage, low current charge. The high voltage part of the charge is about 50 000 volts (as advertised to you recalcitrant recidivists) without contact, i.e. arcing through the air. With contact and subsequent drop in resistance, you get about 5000 V through the circuit. V=RI, with current consistant, a drop in resistance gives a drop in voltage. In order to keep current in the milliamps consistantly, it is best to keep a circuit flowing. This is why these things arc in the air. You are draining a capacitor, and you would like to do that uniformly, or as uniformly as permissable. If you put one end of your delivery mechanism into the offending person, and then deliver the next later on, I fear you may actually deliver all 50 000 volts to the meatbag target, for some period of time. This may have serious implications. I know that it's volts that jolts and mills that kills, but 50 000 of thems volts may be a tipping point...-- 4whom, May 02 2012 Yeah. In terms of danger, I've had much worse shocks from a welding machine--high amperage, relatively low voltage. It's a different flavor of electrocution, as well. It doesn't make your muscles freeze up for several minutes like the stun gun did to me, but it's a much more immediate and startling pain.-- Alterother, May 02 2012 A friend who is now a police prosecutor told me of a domestic violence incident where they were called to subdue a man whose neighbours thought posed a risk to them. The guy got into a bit of a grapple with two officers, removed their sidearms and threw them over a fence, so all of the cops, as they arrived, took off their firearms and waded into the fray.
In short, they used up 5 cans of pepper spray on him, while he rendered 2 TASERs unserviceable, along with 3-4 batons and 3 of the 11 officers attending.
In the end the got him when he slipped over on the lawn and they all piled on and TASERed him again while they held him down, then cuffed him with plasticuffs.
Turns out he was an elite special forces soldier, somewhat intoxicated and feeling rather maudlin that one of his friends had been killed in Afghanistan and he had returned home to find his wife had left him. He didn't want to hurt anyone, as evidenced by his actions in throwing away the police weapons once he had gained control of them.
I'd hate to be a copper... seriously, the poor buggers go into all sorts of shit with their hands tied with regards to terms of engagement and practically blindfolded as to the tactical situation they're facing.-- UnaBubba, May 02 2012 Agreed. Soldiers may get much more hurt thrown at them on a daily basis, but at least they know it's coming and have a semblance of an idea where from and in what form. The same trooper I talked tasers with told me a happy little tale about responding to a call involving a woman having trouble in labor (he was about a 1/2-hour closer than the ambulance) and ending up walking into a meth lab and having a gun shoved into his face.-- Alterother, May 02 2012 Karen said that incident was the one where she opted to switch from operations to prosecution. She observed that it was not somewhere they should have been and that the soldier was perfectly sane and reasonable after everyone stopped trying to hurt him.
He was given a suspended sentence at the end of the process, and asked if he wouldn't mind living on base for a while.-- UnaBubba, May 02 2012 random, halfbakery