Tasers Are So Much Fun

The engineers at Tazer, maker of numerous possibly-lethal "nonlethal" weapons, have added a new item to their arsenal.

If it prevents someone from actually getting shot, I'm all for it. (That's assuming that this thing is any safer than what would normally come out of the barrel of a shotgun.) The research I'd like to see done: Does putting "nonlethal" weapons in the hands of law enforcement make them more likely to use them in lieu of, I dunno, tackling people and handcuffing them?

From the product site:

"XREP is a self-contained, wireless projectile that fires from a standard 12-gauge shotgun. It delivers the same Neuro-Muscular Incapacitation (NMI) bio-effect as our handheld TASER X26, but can be delivered to a distance of up to 100 feet, combining blunt impact with field proven TASER NMI....

The TASER XREP launch velocity is approximately 300 feet per second....

Another innovative and unique feature of the XREP nose is the reflex engagement electrode. A normal reaction to the pain of a projectile impact is for the subject to grab at the impact site. If the subject tries to grab or disconnect the XREP projectile, the reflex engagement electrodes complete a circuit allowing TASER NMI to discharge from the Nose Electrodes, through the subject's body, out to the hand that grabbed the XREP. This creates a significant spread that allows the XREP pulses to affect a large body mass, causing overpowering Neuro Muscular Incapacitation....

In fact, if the subject even grabs the tether, a live hand-trap wire makes a connection and the NMI effect is delivered through the hand, preventing the subject from letting go. If none of the preferred electrodes are in contact, the XREP delivers its impulse across the front electrodes, creating a painful stimulus to distract, disorient, and entice the subject to grab for the XREP making a hand connection, or to move in reaction to the pain which can help the cholla electrodes on the main chassis to engage. "LINK"

Now granted 300 fps is not what you would call blazing fast but just imagine the fun you could have with a taser shotgun. Thwapppp taser dart to melon the suspect stops and wonders "What in the hell is this fireworks looking thing stuck in the side of my head?" and then as he grabs it sit back and watch as hilarity ensues.

And courtesy of You Tube is a bunch of taser videos. "LINK"