Posted on 11/26/2004 7:08:07 PM PST by neverdem
Grew up building electronic hobby gear back in the tube days. Home made stereo, amateur radio and then on into the Navy working on EW equipment where Klystrons used 20K volts. Been my experience that people react differently to the same voltage. Can't explain it, but what can kill one person just tingles another. (yes I know it's the current that kills, and that might be the clue why people resopnd differently)
Good. Just shoot them then with a regular pistol.
There's a fairly good chance of injury and then no one will have to worry about tazer's statistically remote possibility that someone will be injured.
Having worked with a Jennings bottle, testing hardware up to 40KV, that discharged through my arm (accidentally mind you), it would be interesting to know what kind of current is discharged with the Taser. It's a shocking experience, not one that I would willingly choose to repeat...
It's definitely not the voltage, but the current!
I was working on one of our preamps on our WLR-1 which had a klystron at about 20K, they used a 10 ohm resistor as a "fusistor" back then. The ship took a roll I didn't expect and I touched one of the resistor which was mounted to make replacement easy, and it blew a hole right into my index finger. No blood or anything, but the smell of my burned flesh filled CIC. Still have a small circular scar on the tip of my index finger where it went into me.
The use of a 45 caliber loaded with 185JHP sounds good.
> Many police officers say that Tasers give them a way
> to restrain dangerous suspects without using firearms
> or fighting with them. But civil liberties groups say
> police often use Tasers on people who are merely unruly
> or disobedient, not dangerous.
This is the heart of this story (which is not a new story).
If tasers were only being used as an alternative to
discharging a firearm, the target is obviously safer
being tasered.
But because the taser is billed as "non-lethal" it is
being used in a wide variety of circumstances where
no firearms use is even contemplated.
That being the case, everyone needs to understand the
real risks, and the effects of these devices do not
appear to be well studied.
I have a relative who is a sheriff. His department has
tasers, and he often uses a hand-held zapper. He allowed
himself to be tasered just to know what it was like.
I daresay that makes him much more cautious about when
to use it.
Most law enforcement agencies which use Tazers conduct training exercises which include the trainee getting hit with a tazer shot. You've seen this on TV, haven't you?
(They do he same thing with mace.) The danger is absolutely insignificant, statistically.
How about someone with a bad heart, etc? He'd undoubtedly die from rough physical contact during an arrest situation anyway, if his heart was that weak. I recall, couple years ago, about a 300+ crazy man who was tazered and died afterwards. He had a bad heart, had taken PCP, but couldn't be controlled any other way. Initial outcry, but faded away quickly.
I think this round of tazer-bashing is the ACLU-type of thing....the cops are torturing citizens simply because they can, so do away with tazers, right?
Don't you know that the cops have to justify every use of tazers after the fact? There is a potential for abuse, but the same for old-fashioned brutality, which was not reported until someone complained.
Summary: The tazer is not dangerous (it's perfect, IMO); and it has no more potential for misuse and abuse than any other arrest tactic in use by police today.
The issue is, once again, all BS.
". Its primary safety studies on the M26, its most powerful gun, consist of tests on a *single pig in 1996 and on five dogs* in 1999."
Well that's it. Forget all the studies. PETA and their liberal allies will see the weapon is yanked from the LEO market.
Bring out the spitballs!
In the hands of terrorists, it is used to disable and capture people, in addition to disabling sentries.
In a small crowd, a platoon of troops can quickly be disabled and captured.
Police who believe that they are in control of a crowd, may quickly be disabled by members of the crowd, armed with Tasers.
No shots fired, by which to cause alarm. Not much other than some gurgling sounds from a few mic's.
Not good.
A taser is safer than a .38 slug. Period.
Ouch... When I was in junior high school, I learned that you need to discharge the high-voltage electrolytic capacitors before poking around in a circuit with your fingers, so I dutifully used a big screwdriver to short the plus terminal to the chassis. I got a much bigger spark than I expected, so just to be safe, I did it one more time - at which point I got another really big spark. Of course I was puzzled about what kind of super-capacitor I was dealing with that could retain so much charge, until I realized (duh!) that the thing was still powered on... I was about to stick my finger into the circuit, but luckily I had decided to discharge it that one more time...
For you who like to play with large voltage numbers for fun and giggles.
http://jnaudin.free.fr/lifters/main.htm
flight through electricity in your own shop.
Though having 28k volts go through my ( carelessly placed ) smoke is something I'll remember for quite some time. Did wonders for my respect too. :)
1. They ain't safe. See heart and drug problems.
2. There was a drunk fellow who held a gun to his head and threatened suicide. The cop tased him. Muscular reflex caused... well let's say the cop just helped him in his mission.
3. When a person is shot who needed killing, the LEO WILL be charged with MURDER. The ACLU, Amnesty, "Civil Rights" and other vermin will say, "the cop should have used a taser instead of deadly force." Unfortunately, the jury, non-LEOs, will agree when they hear how safe and effective tasers are. So when the poor cop is paying a fortune in legal, liability and other costs, gets fired and is imprisoned for doing his / her job, one just has to say, "how safe"?
Capsicum spray has fallen in preference because some are immune top its affects and the LEO can also be affected in its use. seems to me "tasers" are just about as useles. As with gun control. the MSM plays up legitimate uses of the taser as unnecessary. For example the 6 year old tased because he was going to injure himself with glass. Correct use but incorrect publicity. Guess who looses?
Hey, as long as EVERYONE can carry a taser, ok, fine. Cops, as First Salute pointed out, would think twice about wading into a crowd, clubs swinging, when they can be taken out, disarmed, and restrained silently.
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