Long-range stun guns en route

We got a bit of a jolt out of the idea of a new longer range stun gun, as apparently inventors are hard at work on a 40-kilovolt shocker capable of reducing a subject as far off off as 450 feet to a mass of quivering child-like state. Unlike tethered Tasers that stick someone close up with wires, this new type of debilitating nonlethal weapon fires off a small dart that detonates piezeoelectric materials on impact, triggering a massive electric reaction, and thusly taking down -- but not out -- the target. It's really no mystery to us that a device like that's going to build a lot of buzz. (Sorry, had to!)

[Top @ Sep 5th 2006 3:50AM]

Non-lethal? I WANT ONE!!!!

[Tom @ Sep 5th 2006 4:08AM]

Good. Equip every police officer with one of these.

[Tom @ Sep 5th 2006 4:18AM]

And what if it the bullet contacts not skin, but the clothes? Will this have an effect?

[wasp @ Sep 5th 2006 5:07AM]

cops only use stun guns in situation where the perp is a low treat but a treat none the less. if a perp has a gun
or knife the cup will use deadly force.

[tokamac @ Sep 5th 2006 5:14AM]

Wow this is the same thing as the "electric rifle" of Captain Nemo in the SF novel "20000 Leagues Under the Sea" from Jules Verne (1869)!

[GhostDoggy @ Sep 5th 2006 5:47AM]

"new type of debilitating nonlethal weapon" as if the original ones were meant to be lethal? Doh!

[CommanderROR @ Sep 5th 2006 6:16AM]

I guess 40KV should be enough to get through most types of clothing...

[CommanderROR @ Sep 5th 2006 6:16AM]

Somehow these tasers sound a lot like those SciFi weapons in the movies...:-)
Imagine using them as crowd control...a lot of people. close together, touching, could be reduced to a twitching heap of man-meat with only a few shots...
mmmmhhhhh...I hope these will come over to Germany sometime...I'l love to see our police running around town with these and actually daring to use them...

[PEZ @ Sep 5th 2006 6:49AM]

There is also one in development that does not use wires OR projectiles, but fires invisible bolts through mid air. Believe it. Better yet, google it.

[Rusty @ Sep 5th 2006 7:55AM]

I love watching the cop chase videos on tv when they tase
someone. It's like watching a really bad break dancer LOL.

[Ken @ Sep 5th 2006 8:15AM]

What are the chances of a 40Kv projectile igniting a person's clothes? What if they're wet? What if they're wearing metal buttons on their wet denim coat?

The first person to be barbecued by long-distance taser will certainly make the news. Perhaps they should have Dell or Sony make the projectiles.

[Hello Moto @ Sep 5th 2006 8:30AM]

intresting note, on a wiki discussion page I found this, seems it won't do any good.:

"Stun guns voltage can range from 50kV up to 750kV for some models, and anything under 200kV is mostly considered "irritating" by law enforcers."

[atrain @ Sep 5th 2006 8:32AM]

And when gangs get a hold of these to rob someone? That guy won't even get a chance to run

[spookthehamster @ Sep 5th 2006 9:41AM]

"And when gangs get a hold of these to rob someone? That guy won't even get a chance to run" You'd rather be shot and killed when they steal your stuff?

[Edward @ Sep 5th 2006 10:03AM]

woah! what a shocker!

: D

[drummania @ Sep 5th 2006 10:54AM]

I am recalling the Tesla soldier in Red Alert....

[Wry Cooter @ Sep 5th 2006 1:56PM]

Go ahead, make my day. When they get the Larry Niven model that is.

[GunForHire @ Sep 5th 2006 3:01PM]

Sounds like the 'sticky shockers' that are a key weapon in the Splinter Cell series...

[downit @ Sep 5th 2006 3:39PM]

And you laughed at my tinfoil hat! Now all i need is a good tinfoil tailor!

[davin @ Sep 5th 2006 4:44PM]

even a non-lethal beanbag can be lethal if it hits a person in the eye, temple or throat. There's no guarantee that it will be non-lethal, they should call them 'mostly non-lethal'.

[tokamac @ Sep 6th 2006 6:38AM]

Yes, the comment by PEZ is indeed correct.
Air does not conduct electricity normally, or when it occurs at very high voltage the lightning is deviated towards the nearest conductor (and it could be the cop's feet! :-D).
But prototypes of effective lightning gun has been made, using a primary ultraviolet laser which ionizes air along its path, then the gun fires an enormous electric discharge and the lightning goes straight forward because it follows the ionized rectilinear line.

[lcllam @ Sep 7th 2006 2:20AM]

Uh... bad idea. Isn't one feature of Tasers the ability for the officer to shut it off if anything bad happens (like the perp getting a heart attack mid shock)? I can see a number of fatalities happening. Plus, since the charge is activated via explosions, it's hard to design the projectiles' control mechanism (if they exist) surviving that, and the impact too.

[Derek Wray @ Sep 11th 2006 11:19PM]

Sounds like a bad idea. Anything that shots a projectile with enough force to travel 450 feet is shooting a projectile with enough force to kill someone. At that distance, the chance of shooting the person in the throat or eye or some other vulnerable area is too great. It becomes a matter of they may not die - is that any better than shooting them with a gun.

Stun guns are useful as is the taser because it provides the user with options and control with very little to almost no risk of killing the person.