A Taser is an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles. Its manufacturer, Taser International, calls the effects “neuromuscular incapacitation” and device’s mechanism “Electro-Muscular Disruption (EMD) technology”. Someone struck by a Taser experiences stimulation of his or her sensory nerves and motor nerves, resulting in strong involuntary muscle contractions. Tasers do not rely only on pain compliance, except when used in Drive Stun mode, and are thus preferred by some law enforcement over non-Taser stun guns and other electronic control weapons. At the present time, there are two main police models, the M26 and X26. Both come with various accessories, including a laser sight and optional mounted digital video camera that can record in low-light situations. Taser International is also marketing a civilian model called the C2. On 27 July 2009, Taser introduced the X3, capable of subduing 3 suspects without reload.
Tasers were introduced as less-lethal weapons to be used by police to subdue fleeing, belligerent, or potentially dangerous subjects, often when what they consider to be a more lethal weapon would have otherwise been used. The use of Tasers has become controversial following instances of Taser use that have resulted in serious injury and death, and while they are far less lethal than many other weapons, the U.N. are concerned that use of Tasers may amount to torture, and Amnesty International has reported cases where they believe that their use amounted to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment which is absolutely prohibited under international law”.
Name
Taser is an acronym, named for a fictional weapon: Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle. Taser is a registered trademark. It has prompted a backformed verb to tase, which means to use a Taser on; however, to taser is also commonly used.
History
Jack Cover, a NASA researcher, began developing the Taser in 1969. By 1974, Cover had completed the device, which he named after his childhood hero Tom Swift. 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. In 1991, a Taser supplied by Tasertron to the Los Angeles Police Department failed to subdue Rodney King. Its lack of effectiveness was blamed on a faulty battery.
Taser International CEO Rick Smith has 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 Tim 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 the “… original TASER inventor, Jack Cover” to develop a “non-firearm TASER electronic control device.” The 1994 AIR TASER Model 34000 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 US firearms regulator, the ATF, stated that the AIR TASER was not a firearm. In 1999, Taser International developed an “ergonomically handgun shaped device called the ADVANCED TASER M-series systems” which used a “patented neuromuscular incapacitation (NMI) technology.” This is due to losing control over the sphincter. In May 2003, Taser International released a new weapon called the TASER X26, which used “Shaped Pulse Technology.” On July 27, 2009 Taser International relasead a new type of taser called the X3 which can fire three shots before it must be reloaded. It holds three new type cartridges, which are much thinner than the previous model.
How Tasers Work
The Taser fires two small dart-like electrodes, which stay connected to the main unit by conductive wire as they are propelled by small compressed nitrogen charges similar to some air gun or paintball marker propellants. The air cartridge contains a pair of electrodes and propellant for a single shot and is replaced after each use. There are a number of cartridges designated by range, with the maximum at 35 feet (10.6 m). Cartridges available to non-law enforcement consumers are limited to 15 feet (4.5 m). The electrodes are pointed to penetrate clothing and barbed to prevent removal once in place. Earlier Taser models had difficulty in penetrating thick clothing, but newer versions (X26, C2) use a “shaped pulse” that increases effectiveness in the presence of barriers.
Drive Stun
Some Taser models, particularly those used by police departments, also have a “Drive Stun” capability, where the Taser is held against the target without firing the projectiles, and is intended to cause pain without incapacitating the target. “Drive Stun” is “the process of using the EMD weapon [Taser] as a pain compliance technique. This is done by activating the EMD and placing it against an individual’s body. This can be done without an air cartridge in place or after an air cartridge has been deployed.”
A Las Vegas police document says “The Drive Stun causes significant localized pain in the area touched by the Taser, but does not have a significant effect on the central nervous system. The Drive Stun does not incapacitate a subject but may assist in taking a subject into custody.” “Drive Stun” was used in the UCLA Taser incident and the University of Florida Taser incident. It is also known as “dry tasing”, “contact tasing”, or “drive tasing”.
Amnesty International has expressed particular concern about Drive Stun, noting that “… the potential to use TASERs in drive-stun mode — where they are used as ‘pain compliance’ tools when individuals are already effectively in custody — and the capacity to inflict multiple and prolonged shocks, renders the weapons inherently open to abuse.
Accessories
The TASER CAM is a specialized device designed for the Taser X26 to record audio and video when the Taser’s safety is disengaged. The CAM is integrated into a battery pack and does not interfere with the Taser’s existing function.
Users
Taser use in Phoenix increased from 71 incidents in the year 2002 to 164 incidents in the year 2003. In addition, the number of officer-involved shootings decreased by seven during this time period. In Houston, however, police shootings did not decline after the deployment of thousands of Tasers.
According to the analysis of the first 900 police Taser incidents by the Houston Chronicle, no crime was being committed and no person was charged in 350 of those cases. In addition, it has been reported that the Houston Police Department has “shot, wounded, and killed as many people as before the widespread use of the stun guns” and has used Tasers in situations that would not warrant lethal or violent force, such as “traffic stops, disturbance and nuisance complaints, and reports of suspicious people.” In Portland, Oregon, meanwhile, police found that 25 to 30 percent of the situations in which a Taser was employed met the criteria for the use of deadly force.
Although Tasers were originally proposed as alternatives to lethal force, they have entered routine use as a way to incapacitate suspects or as a “pain compliance” method at times when the use of firearms would not be justifiable. The American Civil Liberties Union alleges that, since 1999, at least 148 people have died in the United States and Canada after being shocked with Tasers by police officers. Police departments counter that while Tasers were used to subdue these individuals, their in-custody deaths were un-related to their encounter, and could have likely been caused by more traditional police impact weapons (like batons).
A recent development has included marketing Tasers to the general public. A line of pink Tasers are specifically being marketed for women. The Taser website states “Who says safety can’t be stylish?” in reference to its “latest designer TASER C2 colors” and patterns, which include leopard print patterns and a range of colors.
Legality
Australia
Taser use in Australia is varied from state to state, though possession, ownership and use of a stun gun (including Tasers) by civilians is considerably restricted, if not illegal.
Canada
According to previous interpretation of the Firearms Act, Tasers were considered to be “prohibited weapons” and could be used only by members of law-enforcement agencies after they were imported into the country under a special permit. The possession of restricted weapons must be licensed by the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program unless exempted by law. A 2008 review of the Firearms Act found that the act classifies “the Taser Public Defender and any variant or modified version of it” as “prohibited firearms”. However, Canadian police forces typically treat Tasers as “prohibited weapons”, inconsistent with the restrictions on firearms.
The direct source for this information comes from an independent report produced by Compliance Strategy Group[31] for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The report is called An Independent Review of the Adoption and Use of Conducted Energy Weapons by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In the report that is available through access to information, the authors argued that the CEW was, for several years after its adoption by the RCMP, erroneously characterized as a prohibited “weapon” under the Criminal Code, as opposed to a prohibited “firearm.” This misunderstanding was subsequently incorporated into the RCMP’s operational policies and procedures as well as those of other police services in Canada. While the most recent RCMP operational manual, completed in 2007, correctly refers to the CEW as a prohibited firearm, a number of consequences of this error in classification remain to be dealt with by both the RCMP and other Canadian police services. Consequently, it could be argued the police in Canada may not have had the proper authority under their provincial policing Acts and Regulation to use the CEW in the first place. The point of unauthorized use by the police was also raised by Dirk Ryneveld, British Columbia’s Police Complaint Commissioner at the Braidwood inquiry on June 25, 2008.
Estonia
Tasers are not allowed in this country.
France
Tasers are used by the French National Police and Gendarmerie. In September 2008, they were made available to local police by a government decree, but in September 2009, the Council of State reversed the decision judging that the specificities of the weapon required a stricter regulation and control.
Greece
The Greek police use tasers. Greek Police Special Forces used a taser to end the hijacking of a Turkish Airlines A310 by a Turkish citizen at Athens International Airport on March 2003.
Hong Kong
Under HK Laws. Chap 238 Firearms and Ammunition Ordinance, “any portable device which is designed or adapted to stun or disable a person by means of an electric shock applied either with or without direct contact with that person” is considered as ‘arms’ and therefore, the importation, possession and exportation of Tasers require a license by the Hong Kong Police Force which would otherwise be illegal and carries penalties up to a fine of $100,000 and 14 years in jail.
Israel
Israeli police approved using Tasers. As of 16 Feb 2009, the first Tasers became available to police units. Tasers are expected to enter operational use by the Israeli Defense Forces in the near future.
Malaysia
Royal Malaysian Police are set to become the second in Southeast Asia police force after Singapore Police Force to use the non-lethal Taser X26 stun guns. The force had taken delivery of 210 units of the stun guns, known as the X26 electronic control device, which cost RM2.1 million, last year they have yet to be distributed to personnel on the ground. Taser would be included under the Firearms Act 1960. The Taser X26 set bought by Malaysian police comes with a holster and uses a non-rechargeable lithium battery able to deliver 195 cartridge shots. Policemen going on rounds will be issued four cartridges. The force began toying with the idea of using Tasers in 2003 when they purchased 80 units of the M26, the X26’s bulkier predecessor. This was not made public as it was part of a testing exercise. The Tasers were issued to policemen in Petaling Jaya, Dang Wangi in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru.
Poland
Under Polish law, Tasers are not considered to be firearms. No permission is needed to buy and carry one.
UK
Tasers are considered to be ‘prohibited weapons’ under the Firearms Act and possession is banned without the written permission of the Home Secretary. The maximum sentence for possession is ten years in prison and an unlimited fine.
Taser guns are now used by British armed police as a “less lethal” weapon. It was also announced in July 2007 that the deployment of Taser by specially trained police units who are not firearms officers, but who are facing similar threats of violence, would be trialled in ten police forces.
The 12 month trial commenced on 1 September 2007 and took place in the following forces: Avon & Somerset, Devon & Cornwall, Gwent, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Metropolitan Police, Northamptonshire, Northumbria, North Wales and West Yorkshire.
Following the success of the trial, the Home Secretary agreed on 24 November 2008 to allow Chief Officers of all forces in England and Wales, from 1 December 2008, to extend Taser use to specially-trained units in accordance with current Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) policy and guidance, which states that Taser can be used only where officers would be facing violence or threats of violence of such severity that they would need to use force to protect the public, themselves, and/or the subject(s).
A fund for up to 10,000 additional Tasers is being made available for individual Chief Officers to bid for Tasers based on their own operational requirements.
U.S.
Taser devices are not considered firearms by the U.S. government. They can be legally carried (concealed or open) without a permit in 43 states. They are prohibited for citizen use in the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin, as well as certain cities and counties. Their use in Connecticut and Illinois is legal with restrictions.