TASER X3 triple-shot stunner arrives, subdues population
By Nilay Patel 
posted July 27th 2009 6:26PM
posted July 27th 2009 6:26PM
posted July 27th 2009 6:26PM
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how much?
All of your civil liberties.
@Sisyphus
Best reply I've seen in the couple years I've been reading Engadget.
@sisyphus: Are you saying that the police should default to real guns, or that we shouldn't have police at all? Sure, every once in a while there's an idiotic incident of excessive force, giving a bad name to everybody else, but if you compare that to the number of times non-lethal force is used every day, you'll find it to be infinitesimally small. Taking tasers away from from cops isn't going to reduce excessive force because tasers aren't the cause. Besides, that thing looks freakin' sweet. I know I'd be intimidated into "voluntary compliance".
I'd be okay with little to no police.
Your left and right nuts. With an extra taser shot to each of them if the first one fails.
Just like LA was, right?
Sisyphus the way your avatar looks at the OP is just icing on the cake.
According to my local news $1,800.
There are multiple cases where police officers use tazers in completely unnecessary situations. See the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport.
I think that the only situations that warrant tazer use are stand offs with subjects clearly holding potentially deadly melee weapons that could inflict serious hard on police if they try to subdue by hand. There's too many factors that could lead to the death of someone that a tazer is used upon.
How long before taser gatling guns?
Tazer International still goes to extraordinary lengths to claim that its products are non-lethal yet there are many documented instances where that is clearly not the case. One of the most compelling is the case of a new immigrant, Robert Dziekanski, who was Tazered 4 times by four RCMP officers at Vancouver airport and died within minutes. The police issued laughable excuses that were later disproven in an investigation and may yet be held criminally liable. If one of those offices had had an X3, I guess he'd have died even more efficiently. The argument that Tazers are less lethal than a bullet depends on how they are used. Police forces are far more likely to discharge a Tazer than a firearm simply because they believe that these devices are non-deadly.
Guns are not always fatal.
So we should classify them as non-lethal?
It boils down to this, would you rather a crack dealing child molester gets shot by a gun and dies or a taser gets arrested, 6 months later is on the streets again.
I bet most of you hippies (sissyfus) are fans of Boondock saints but you hate guns, war and police. You dont understand PEOPLE WANT TO HURT YOU!!! Until you realize that you will always be the victim. I have seen kids in school fight each other and have to go to the hospital because of concussions, broken bones and even ruptured kidneys- all of these could have been fatal if not treated in time yet guns/tasers are dangerous? you people live in the bubble of your moms basement; get out in the world and live!!!
An officer should use force when necessary. Now we have the technology to use non-lethal (most of the time) force in an effective way. Officers should treat tasers the same way they treat guns. Unfortunately, they sometimes feel it is ok to use a taser when there is no need for a gun. You wouldn't shoot someone in the back if they were resisting arrest. Where are your rights if you allow police to tase you when they feel like it?
If you are resisting arrest you forfeit your right not to be tazered. It's that simple.
Example
There is a drunk man at a parade, he is in a crowd of people trying to start a fight- a police officer tells him to calm down or leave the parade. The drunk man then raises his voice and turns to the crowd shouting how he has freedom of speech and he is aloud to tell whoever he wants whatever he wants. The police seeing the man growing more and more agitated and will soon become overly aggressive and will soon hurt someone in the crowd, the officer or himself. The officer then pulls out his taser and tells the man to calm down or he will be tased; the man now even more upset takes a step towards the officer, the crowd steps back waiting for the officer to react, and the officer pulls the trigger shocking the belligerent man, slaps some cuffs on him and then, BAM, the situation is dissolved the crowd can go back to its celebration, the officer is safe and filling out a handful of paperwork explaining why he used his taser, the man is calming down in the back of a police car.
"I bet most of you hippies"
Actually I'm a well-educated, philosophically radical, agnostic, libertarian gun owner who believes in the constitution, second amendment rights, and all of the other rights afforded me as a citizen of my country. And I'd be okay if everyone in my neighborhood owned guns too, because they'd get to help themselves out a hell of a lot quicker than the police ever could.
But go on calling 90% of people "hippies," while you relax in "Real America" and lick Sean Hannity's ballsack for blathering on about good and evil.
I would rather have little to no criminals.
Stun guns should only be used in place of guns. Not all the freaking time. You have to look at the situation and go 'would I shoot a person here'. If the answer is yes then you shoot them with your taser. If the answer is no then you don't shoot them with a taser. It's not a hard concept. Cops are way too trigger happy...
@murmermer
"If you are resisting arrest you forfeit your right not to be tazered. It's that simple.
Example........."
nice little story, but you are being sarcastic right? I can't tell whether you are joking or not...
A drunken man being boisterous, rude and offensive even, is in no way justification to tazer him. If he has no weapon he is not a lethal threat to anyone. A Tazer should really only be used in a similar situation that you would use a gun. Would you shoot a man with a gun for shouting?
If a policeman cannot subdue a drunk man without using a gun or a tazer, then he is not much of a policeman. Isn't that the reason they have night sticks?
murmermer
There is nothing you can do that forfiets your fundamental human rights, even convicted criminals and prisoners of war maintain basic human rights. Police are required to use a proportional response to a threat, so physical force can only be used to subdue a physically violent person. A taser is supposed to be an alternative to a gun, a last option before lethal force to subdue a violent person, sadly what the police are actually doing is using it as an obeidience tool to beat people into line when they don't jump fast enough at a command.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmByfTKKUV4
Here's a guy who is fully compliant at all times and never threatening actually being told to lie down so he can be tasered
He even does so, displaying absolute compliance and is still tasered!. That's not a professional police officer, that's just a vindictive idiot who can't wait to use his new "toy"
Don't Tase me bro!
Here in the real world, where there's a population density of more than a couple people per square mile, abstracted libertarian "ideals" don't hold up because most people are too goddamned stupid to use weaponry only for defense. The best compromise is a well-equipped, well-trained police force, and this is an effective step toward that. I'd rather see people get shocked and in very rare cases done lasting harm than beaten with clubs and have it happen every time.
Police brutality makes the news because--guess what--it IS news. It's not common. The innocent have nothing to fear. If you don't want to be tased stop breaking the law. If you're not breaking the law then this shouldn't matter to you at all.
Taser, Taser, Taser? So they tase all the girls at the company?
lol @ Americans
lol @ sanctimonious jackasses from other countries who think they are better than Americans when in reality they have the same public safety issues to be concerned with.
Here's an idea, each time a cop uses a taser he has to pay 300 bucks out of his own pocket, I wonder how necessary to save lives it would then suddenly be eh.
At least we don't spend more time talking about HOW to do things than we do actually DOING them.
I guess I wouldn't know about since I hate freedom and all that jazz.
I'm surprised the girls were wearing white pants. My neighbor got tazed in a drunken stupor a couple years ago and unloaded her bladder super quick.
I don't think those girls were in a drunken stooper.
Btw: I've been tased and I didn't wet myself.
@nrb
I'm so proud of you! Not wetting your pants while being tased is remarkably difficult eh? Perhaps we should all try to understand what being tased feels like as you have.
"I'm so proud of you! Not wetting your pants while being tased is remarkably difficult eh?"
Your sarcasm is noted. You may also notice that this sub-thread was about wetting onesself when being tased. It happens, especially to drunks with full bladders. Yes, there is a humorous side to it, but it's a legitimate issue.
"Perhaps we should all try to understand what being tased feels like as you have."
If it's a topic that you're passionate about, I would recommend you go through it. Make sure you pee first.
Holy crap! You don't faze me bro!
Hey, i am 12 and what is this ?
i don't even
should I?
too late. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=taser
This is the device that allows u to pwn 3 n@@bs at once (in a good way)
I hope this taser will be in Modern Warfare 2. :)
Considering all of the 'non-lethal' activity taking place, concluding with Police using excessive force to taser a man's rectum in Boise, Idaho, I'm not happy to be hearing a member of Engadget's staff talking about these as if they're the latest and greatest toys. How you'd like to be tasered and then die from a 'non-lethal' heart-attack. Geez.
Hmm... was it Australia where they tazed a man and he lit on fire? I see nothing good coming from 3 human fires, especially in Australia.
If I had to choose between being shot with a taser and being shot with a normal gun I know what I would pick
"Warning arc"? From the website and all info I can gather about Tasers, you get 1 (or 3) shots. If you miss, the perp is on you and your Taser is useless. Why not put a traditional stun gun on the Taser in case you miss? .. or get a .38 special.
- Texas resident
@Phil Perman: that only works if tasers are used in place of guns. Evidence (here in Canada at least, see "Robert Dziekański") shows they are not. If I had to pick between a beat down or being shot by a potentially lethal taser, I'd probably take a beat down.
@Phil Perman
Can I ask why you assume that any given situation only has two outcomes: Gun or Taser? What happened to using self defense skills to disable your opponent with minimal harm to both. All I ask is that if we were to adopt the use of Tasers then we should treat it like a gun and ONLY use it as a last resort. Using a taser against someone who is UNARMED is unethical and dubious. If the suspect has a gun or a knife then yes a police officer should have the option to use the taser. Otherwise it is excessive.
@ Matt: Yes, usually if you tase a gasoline-soaked man, he will catch on fire. However, when he douses himself in gasoline and threatens to set himself on fire with a lighter while running towards you, you have to do what you have to do. They could have shot him, but didn't. Learn the whole story before jumping on the LE-bash bandwagon.
@ Chip: If you remove the cartridge the arc still exists across the two terminals, and can be used as a traditional stun "gun." You're right about the missing concern. That's the biggest flaw about the Taser. Until we get star trek style phasers, it will also continue to be a concern. Plus, you can't always use a firearm in situations where a Taser might be appropriate.
Of course, most people believe they are being somehow morally superior by being opposed to Tasers and screaming "OMG POH-LEESE OPPRESHUNS!!1111oneoneon" without:
1) Ever having been actually oppressed by the police.
2) Somehow not realizing that it's far, far worse to be tackled by multiple policeman and/or hit with an ASP baton or even OC spray. Getting tased is a far better alternative than any of those, both for you and the officer.
Chip, it's not useless on a miss. The catridge pops off and you can use the Taser as a traditional, and very powerful, stun gun.
Phil, that's exactly the point. Many departments use the Taser as an alternative to shooting you. In fact, many departments require lethal cover (another officer with gun drawn) before the taser is deployed.
Matt, yes there is a risk. In fact, they discourage deployment while spraying mace. The mace itself isn't the issue, but the propellant is. Once done spraying, Taser away.
No, crrp, a Taser is not an acceptable self-defense tool for use against an armed man. For those situations, deadly force is needed. A Taser never was and never is intended as a replacement for a defensive firearm. It should never be used as such, whether by LEO or by law-abiding citizen.
It is intended exactly for what you said - for taking down possibly unarmed people who are a danger to themselves, others, and/or a LEO. Example: an angry, most likely unarmed and combative drunk guy.
Scenario 1: Tackle and hit drunk guy, cut and bruised cops, and broken bones and bruises on drunk guy. Lots of assault charges on the guy.
Scenario 2: Drunk dude gets Tasered. Everyone goes home uninjured. Drunk guy gets drunk and disorderly charges, and gets to walk out later on without injuries that would've had to have been treated with taxpayer dollars.
These weapons have been proven to be lethal, especially when they are abused by repeatedly "tasering" a person. Pepper-ball guns like those used by the border patrol are much safer and can fire far more than 3 shots without reloading. There have been several reported deaths from pepper-ball guns, but they are from a higher power version than is required are they are no more dangerous than pepper spray or paint ball guns. If you couldn't survive a hit with a pepper-ball, there's no way you'd stand up to a taser.
Bob, do you have verifiable proof of the massive deaths resulting from Tasers or are you bandwagoning? The only deaths I've heard of are from people who already have compromised systems and probably would've died or otherwise been seriously injured from the shock of OC spray or being tackled (or hit with an ASP). The taser itself hasn't killed as far as I'm aware. You are far better off getting tased than hit with a baton or fist.
I would encourage those who are complaining to actually go through it. Take a course to understand it and then get tasered. It's a unique experience and, as Paul indicates, it beats the daylights out of getting tackled. The instant recovery is even more amazing than the instant disablement.