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taser posts

Taser International's six-shot Shockwave demonstration

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Sep 30th 2009 at 8:08PM

If you're looking to incapacitate with electricity, Taser International is your go-to source. And while single-shot (or even triple shot) weapons have their place, what do you do when faced with a whole crowd of no-goodniks? For instance, take that Travis County, Texas constable who zapped a 72 year old woman this spring (she dared him, remember). What if he was confronted by a whole van full of Ragin' Grannies? That, dear readers, is what Shockwave is for. Each module holds six Tazers seated in a twenty-degree arc, and multiple units can either be stacked horizontally or daisy chained for simultaneous deployment. The unit is activated by a push-button control box that allows the operator to stand up to 100 meters away, and the maximum range is 25 feet. Never before has electrocution been this easy. Video after the break.

[Via Defense Tech]

Continue reading Taser International's six-shot Shockwave demonstration

TASER X3 video hands-on: watch out, baddies

by Paul Miller posted Jul 31st 2009 at 12:24PM

Like most rational human beings, we have a healthy fear of guns. We've never shot a man in Reno (just to watch him die), and we're even unlikely to tase a bro in Atlantic City, just to observe him become temporarily incapacitated. Still, the appeal of a "non-lethal" deterrent is understandable (and certainly preferable to the alternative variety), and TASER has made some big additions to its new TASER X3 triple-shot weapon -- things that serve to make it safer for parties on both sides of the barrel. Check out a video of us handling (and firing!) this beast after the break, along with a few tidbits we picked up from the TASER folks that should provide a small amount of comfort for the TASER-averse.

Continue reading TASER X3 video hands-on: watch out, baddies

TASER X3 triple-shot stunner arrives, subdues population

by Nilay Patel posted Jul 27th 2009 at 6:26PM

Right on schedule, Taser's launching the TASER X3 "force option," which allows "peace officers" the ability to shoot up to three probes in quick succession in order to "incapacitate" their "targets." Not only that, but the X3 can display a "warning arc" when loaded, allowing officers to "gain voluntary compliance" and "avert use-of-force" by putting on a light show. When it comes time to take down that unruly Trustafarian, however, it'll get done with style -- the probes are aimed with laser sights, and the new Pulse Calibration System actively monitors the perp to deliver a Precision Shaped Pulse(TM) that provides "consistent effects." Yeah, we want one. Video after the break.

Continue reading TASER X3 triple-shot stunner arrives, subdues population

Triple-shot TASER X3 imminent, deranged employees celebrate with mock executions

by Paul Miller posted Jul 21st 2009 at 2:20PM

Sure, we love a good electric jolt to the face as much as the next guy, but perhaps the company is taking things a bit far with its new TASER X3 gun. The device has a multi-shot design that allows it to fire three probes in rapid succession, along with laser sights and other enhancements to do the deed with a modicum of accuracy and safety. The new weapon will be officially unveiled on July 27th, but in anticipation of that glorious day, TASER has kindly posted an employee demonstration video of shooting three entirely underpaid women in the back, to the applause of onlookers. Our word of advice? If somebody starts yelling "TASER TASER TASER," you and your two girlfriends might wanna duck. Horrific footage is after the break.

[Via gizmag]

Continue reading Triple-shot TASER X3 imminent, deranged employees celebrate with mock executions

TASER's AXON on-officer recording system could revolutionize COPS

by Darren Murph posted Mar 23rd 2009 at 8:12AM

Oh sure, technically COPS is still a current show, but seriously, the formula hasn't changed in eons. TASER International's AXON / EVIDENCE.com tandem is gearing up to change all that -- so long as officers agree to strap the hardware on their person, that is. In short, AXON is an on-officer recording system that captures audio and video of arrests, and after the scuffle is complete, it sends the data (encrypted heavily, of course) to EVIDENCE.com servers that are managed far, far away from the potentially dubious grasp of police departments. There are built in sensors to see if any data has been tampered with, and if all goes to plan, the entire system should be ready for deployment in Q3 of this year. In other words, go ahead and get all your stupidity out before the summer ends.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

CBC / Radio Canada exposé finds Tasers are unreliable killjoys

by Laura June posted Dec 5th 2008 at 12:59PM

The CBC and Radio Canada have run a bunch of Taser tests recently, and the results aren't likely to reassure anyone. US-based testing lab National Technical Systems pulled 41 X26 units out of 7 random police stations across the nation, and fired each at least six times. What happened? Well, four of them threw off a current "significantly" higher than a stun gun is supposed to, including some that were 50 percent higher than normal, while three didn't fire at all. All the faulty units were manufactured pre-2005, but the company that makes them (which makes almost all US police employed stun guns), couldn't provide someone for the CBC to interview, so no one seems to be sure of the cause. Of course, it goes a long way toward explaining why so many people need to head to the hospital after getting a taste of the taser. Not cool guys, not cool.

[Thanks, Tony A.]

Probe finds one-third of people shot by Tasers need medical attention

by Donald Melanson posted Jun 19th 2008 at 2:38PM

While the last Taser study we came across found that the devices were safe and caused only a few trips to the hospital, a joint investigation by CBC News and the Canadian Press has now turned up some decidedly different findings, with about one-third of people shot by Tasers reportedly requiring some form of medical attention. Those numbers were drawn from the Taser-use forms that RCMP officers are required to fill out whenever they draw the device, which revealed that 910 of the 3,226 people shot between 2002 and 2007 had to go to a medical facility, and that "many more" people had minor injuries but never saw a doctor. Needless to say, we somehow suspect this won't be the last such investigation or study on the matter, especially with the lawsuits flying fast and furiously these days.

[Via Digg]

Jury finds Taser accountable for man's death, awards $6m settlement to family

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jun 11th 2008 at 3:50AM

Oh Taser, your house of cards is about to come crumbling down, blown apart by the winds of US litigation and the righteous fury of your mostly innocent victims. Last Friday, a federal jury in San Jose, California found the stun-gun-maker responsible for the death of Robert Heston Jr., a 40-year-old man, and has awarded his family more than $6 million in damages. Sure, Heston had an enlarged heart due to long-term methamphetamine abuse, but it was the Taser shocks that sent him to a better place. Despite a 12 percent drop in stock value after the ruling, the company continues to pump the devices into the marketplace, but at the very least this should make folks pause before they start juicing people full of electricity... those things aren't toys you know.

[Via Wired]

Mischievous teen arrested for turning camera into taser

by Darren Murph posted Apr 4th 2008 at 10:33AM

Regardless of what the UN / Taser thinks, the fuzz around Clinton, Connecticut aren't too fond of taser-like weapons being in the hands of teenagers. Case in point: a 14-year old with a certain knack for wandering around the intarwebz and filling his brain with all sorts of hacktastic methodologies managed to stumble upon directions (what, these?) for transforming a vanilla disposable camera into something "capable of zapping people with an electrical charge." School Resource Officer Kyle Strunjo even said that the improvised weapon was "potentially capable of a 600-volt shock," though it wasn't actually used on anyone before it got swiped by the boys in blue. Chin up kid, you've got a future waiting for you yet.

[Image courtesy of DIYLive, thanks Ninad]

Thor Shield ensures you can't tase me, bro!

by Ryan Block posted Feb 8th 2008 at 10:14PM

So Point Blank Solutions, Inc. and G² Consulting apparently went right ahead despite the existing patent app and came up with an anti-Taser material called Thor Shield, which weighs two ounces per square foot and can be integrated into anything from a flak jacket to gloves (pictured) to a standard issue t-shirt. We totally can't wait to wear our hilarious / ironic Thor Shielded Threadless shirts to the next G8 summit, yo.

[Via Danger Room]

Taser reveals Music Player Holster for your C2

by Darren Murph posted Jan 8th 2008 at 11:33AM

So yeah, Taser International is indeed introducing a leopard print C2 "personal protection device" here at CES, but honestly, that's not what caught our eye. Rather, the MPH (Music Player Holster) -- which is a 1GB DAP / C2 holster combination -- has absolutely and completely captured our imagination. Regrettably, little else is mentioned about the device, but the way we see it, it's all we needed to finally push us into ordering a C2 to call our own.

[Image courtesy of MSNBC]

French Taser chief hints at flying shockbot

by Joshua Topolsky posted Nov 30th 2007 at 10:37AM

According to a recent report, the French head of stun-gun maker Taser has plans to create a "mini-flying saucer like drone which could also fire Taser stun rounds on criminal suspects or rioting crowds." Antoine di Zazzo, fervent proselytizer of the electroshock weapon, is cutting through the is / isn't torture noise of recent UN reports with the news that the non-lethal device is about to make a serious splash in France, with president Nicolas Sarkozy promising to hand one to every policeman and gendarme. Of course, once di Zazzo's army of tiny, hovering stun machines take to the air -- sometime next year -- the police probably won't have to worry about brandishing their weapons.

[Thanks, Craig B.]

Tase me, baby: Taser responds to the UN, says tasers aren't torture

by Nilay Patel posted Nov 29th 2007 at 8:19AM

Looks like the Taser parties are back on -- Taser issued a terse rebuttal to the UN today, finding fault with its conclusion that being hit with a taser is equivalent to torture. Saying that the committee is "out of touch with the reality that confronts law enforcement officers every day worldwide," Taser also noted that the criteria used to define torture, "extreme pain," also rules out other common police implements like pepper spray and batons. Like some other reports we've seen, Taser says that since their products don't actually electrocute people, the main danger involved in being struck with a taser is an "unassisted fall," which seems to us like pretty much the only kind of fall there is -- but we're not getting in the middle of this one. Looks like this is going to be a long fight -- everybody got their popcorn?

Don't tase me, bro! The UN says it's torture!

by Conrad Quilty-Harper posted Nov 25th 2007 at 4:04PM

In a month that has seen several people killed after being tasered, a UN committee of ten experts has ruled that tasers constitute torture and are capable of killing. This flies in the face of the manufacturer's statement, which is that any resulting deaths after a taser is used are "attributable to other factors." Intended to prevent officers from having to use lethal firearms, the taser has arguably become well established as just another tool in a regular officer's arsenal for use in scenarios where a firearm would never be considered. As for what effect this ruling will have on the sale of tasers, we're guessing "not much" until all the involved parties come into agreement about the lethality (or lack thereof) of the taser.

Taser parties all the rage these days?

by Darren Murph posted Nov 13th 2007 at 6:58PM

We realize tasers have been getting an awful lot of attention lately after that Gator down south got a bit too feisty at a John Kerry Q&A session, but we're trying hard to believe that this story is from a parallel universe and not our own. Apparently, some women in America are gathering around hors d'oeuvres and bottled water to hear taser plugs, which is quite a leap from the oh-so-innocent Tupperware parties of yesteryear. As expected, paranoid gals are snapping up the pink versions like they're going out of style, but considering that stun gun-proof garb is just around the corner, you should probably save your cash and just stick with the BlackBerry.

[Via TechDigest]