NEWS: Stunning Gun

CULTURE: Stunning Gun

This story about Taser putting out new “stylish” stun guns — the new models are smaller, cheaper, sleeker looking and available in pink — is such a treasure trove of delights it deserves a Pulitzer. The two opening sentences read like copy from an ancient issue of Ladies Home Journal.

“Safety and fashion conscious”? Why don’t they say it’s just the thing for the smart and violent set this season? Those lines get funnier still when posited against the sobering realities about stun guns that shortly follow.

And:

It’s not often that a controversial weapon gets a makeover, so I guess it’ll take a while for journalism to take over. More odd is that the device is being repositioned as an accessory by its makers while it’s still in the middle of a nationwide controversy. They’re illegal for civilian use in seven states, and police use in Texas, Florida and other states has been disastrous. According to Amnesty International, over 220 Americans have died from Taser shocks.

No doubt, coincidentally, the announcement of the new line of stun guns comes on the heels of two Taser-related deaths this month. A 38-year-old emotionally disturbed, former schoolteacher in Queens, NY and a 45-year-old man in Florida both died after police attempted to subdue them with Tasers.

But now that the devices have become color-coded and properly sized for Paris Hilton and her ilk, well, prepare to be shocked. Ouch!

I want one but they are illegal in NJ. I rather have a taser than an actual handgun anyday.

Linday Lohan/Paris Hilton taser showdown predicted in 2 months. Any takers?

Oh, and fu johnny

i'd say more like 2 weeks!

Yeah, if the world needs anything, it's more people running around with potentially deadly weapons they barely understand.

so let me get this right a device that is designed to incapacitate an individual and has killed a whooping 220 ppl since is conception is suppose to be so much worse then a real gun which kills like 10 000 ppl a year i heard somewhere in the us. somethings a bit fishy here with the politicians and amnesty international.

if somebody would like to email me and let me know what the fuck is up here i would appreciate it as i wont be on line for a few days to keep up with the thread.

Anyone want to put a pool together on how long it will take before someone gets mixed up, puts 40,000 volts through their melon, and sues?

How much would you pay to watch some idiot do that??

guns as are pretty especially these new lightning bolt guns i bet it would make a man Or lady feel like zeus or zeus girl ( zeus' buxom yet heroic female counterpart)

When a person shoots another person with a gun, they generally intend to kill them. When you taze a person, you aren't trying to kill them, yet they still might die. Which means people wind up killing people without good reason. Which most people consider a bad thing.

Granted, as with every other object known to man, some people will fuck around and hurt/kill themselves or others who do not deserve it. But, I doubt you can show me one self defense product that has yet to kill someone. That death rate is actually pretty good, comparatively. There will always be 'incidents' with the police, but I'd take my chances with the taser over a pistol. Pepper spray and mace are deadly to asthmatics and those allergic, obviously night sticks and asps can be deadly, same with riot guns and now tasers.

I think the biggest thing in the controversy isn't the numbers - but the fact that a fairly unregulated weapon easier to buy than a gun (I won one in a poker game new in the box with the receipt) and promoted as a safer way to incapacitate. ANYone can get one, but NOT everyone has a clue as to the danger. Many people are just oblivbious. It was a little over a century ago that heroin was in a vast number of the patent medicines and was thought to be basically morphine with all the addictive properties refined out of it and when everyone used it for everything . . . all Hell broke loose.

Making something that is deadly but widely misregarded as not-so-much deadly more appealing to the masses . . . well, God bless Free Enterprise, I suppose

Wow 200 people died from tasers? We gotta ban them. Guns are WAY safer.

>Why don't they say it's just the thing for the smart and violent set this season?
Hell yeah, we can't all those people getting violent against attackers now can we?

I know they are illegal for civilian use in Colorado because the laws were written before they were widely availible. There has been a move on to make them legal since it will do far less damage to a person than the Hydrashocks I carry in my handgun (an HK USP .40 for those that care).

One question, how many people died from assaults that could have been prevented by the use of a taser? I bet that number is way higher than 200.

I think this is a good thing. A more accesible, more affordable, more effective means for a person to protect themselves from violent assault.

Ask a rape victim if they would like to have had a taser when attacked.

Ladies don't confuse it with your contoured vibtrator..

Gents don't confuse it with your electric shaver!

Fortunately, it will be free on youtube.

Despite my earlier post, which was just pointing out the reasoning behind the controversy, there are certainly numerous times they have served useful for legitimate causes. Virtually anything that can be used for good can be used for bad or result in unintended untoward events - imagine when ewe first harnessedfire - I bet there were similar disputes.

"According to Amnesty International, over 220 Americans have died from Taser shocks."

Uh... maybe I'm a bad guy but ya know... I'm sure more than 220 Americans die every year from getting beaten to death. And I KNOW more than that die to firearms. So honestly.... fuck those 220 Americans. Individually, it's a great loss. As a number it's almost nothing.

I'd rather handguns get replaced by Tasers. Yes, some people will still die. But how many more will live? A fucking LOT more. Consider that, according to reports put out by the Department of Justice statistics branch, about 400 people are justifiably killed by police each year. By "justified" they mean that the person who was killed was putting the office or someone else at imminent risk of bodily harm or injury.

Now, I'm not sure exactly how much this would go down if tasers were used instead of guns, but I can guarantee it WOULD go down. Tasers are no where near as dangerous as guns. They make a great alternative.

I like them!

I would rather see someone carry that to protect themselves than a gun.

What pecentage of those 200 deaths were from police use/abuse?
Anybody remember the UCLA student a few months back?
Yeah those cops were using it the right way ..... NOT.

... and my personal favorite, "Guy tasers himself in the balls"

I'm waiting for my store to get those, I work at a gun store about 3 miles away from Taser in Arizona.

I'm with the person above me, guns are way better...but .40 cal is lame. however, that is neither here nor there..I Arizona..nothing is illegal as far as weapons are concerned!!