Electroshock gun
Encyclopedia
An electroshock weapon is an incapacitant weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...

 used for incapacitating a person by administering electric shock
Electric shock
Electric Shock of a body with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles or hair. Typically, the expression is used to denote an unwanted exposure to electricity, hence the effects are considered undesirable....

 aimed at disrupting superficial muscle
Muscle
Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...

 functions. One type is a conductive energy device (CED), an electroshock gun popularly known by the brand name "Taser
Taser
A Taser is an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles. Its manufacturer, Taser International, calls the effects "neuromuscular incapacitation" and the devices' mechanism "Electro-Muscular Disruption technology"...

", which fires projectiles that administer the shock through a thin, flexible wire. Other electroshock weapons such as stun guns, stun batons, and electroshock belts administer an electric shock by direct contact. A shockround is a piezo-electric tip for a projectile that generates and releases electric charge on impact.

Principles of operation

Electroshock weapon technology uses a temporary high-voltage low-current electrical discharge to override the body's muscle-triggering mechanisms. The recipient is immobilized via two metal probes connected via metal wires to the electroshock device. The recipient feels pain
Pain
Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...

, and can be momentarily paralyzed while an electric current is being applied. It is reported that applying electroshock devices to more sensitive parts of the body is even more painful. The maximum effective areas for stun gun usage are upper shoulder, below the rib cage, and the upper hip. High voltages are used, but because most devices use a high frequency alternating current, the skin effect
Skin effect
Skin effect is the tendency of an alternating electric current to distribute itself within a conductor with the current density being largest near the surface of the conductor, decreasing at greater depths. In other words, the electric current flows mainly at the "skin" of the conductor, at an...

 prevents a lethal amount of current from traveling into the body. The resulting "shock" is caused by muscles twitching uncontrollably, appearing as muscle spasms.

The internal circuits of most electroshock weapons are fairly simple, based on either an oscillator, resonant
Resonance
In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at a greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies...

 circuit, and step-up transformer
Transformer
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through inductively coupled conductors—the transformer's coils. A varying current in the first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus a varying magnetic field...

 or a diode
Diode
In electronics, a diode is a type of two-terminal electronic component with a nonlinear current–voltage characteristic. A semiconductor diode, the most common type today, is a crystalline piece of semiconductor material connected to two electrical terminals...

-capacitor
Capacitor
A capacitor is a passive two-terminal electrical component used to store energy in an electric field. The forms of practical capacitors vary widely, but all contain at least two electrical conductors separated by a dielectric ; for example, one common construction consists of metal foils separated...

 voltage multiplier
Voltage multiplier
thumb|right|280px|Villard cascade voltage multiplier.A voltage multiplier is an electrical circuit that converts AC electrical power from a lower voltage to a higher DC voltage, typically by means of a network of capacitors and diodes....

 to achieve an alternating high-voltage discharge or a continuous direct-current discharge. It may be powered by one or more batteries
Battery (electricity)
An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...

 depending on manufacturer and model. The output voltages without external "load" (which would be the target's body) are claimed to be in the range of 50 kV up to 6800 kV, with the most common being in the 200 to 300 kV range. The output current upon contact with the target will depend on various factors such as target's resistance, skin type, moisture, bodily salinity, clothing, the electroshock weapon's internal circuitry, discharge waveform, and battery conditions.

Manufacturers' instructions and manuals shipped with the products state that a half-second shock duration will cause intense pain and muscle contractions, startling most people greatly. Two to three seconds will often cause the subject to become dazed and drop to the ground, and over three seconds will usually completely disorient and drop an attacker for at least several seconds. TASER International warns law enforcement agencies that “prolonged or continuous exposure(s) to the TASER device’s electrical charge” may lead to medical risks such as cumulative exhaustion and breathing impairment. Because there was no automatic stop on older model Taser guns, many officers have used it repeatedly or for a prolonged period of time, thus potentially contributing to suspects’ injuries or death. The current X26 model automatically stops five seconds after the trigger is depressed and then the trigger must be depressed again to send another "shock". The trigger can be held down continuously for a longer shock or the device can be switched off before the full five seconds have elapsed.

Taser

A Taser is an electroshock weapon that can stun a targeted subject from a distance by firing electrodes on the end of long thin wires.

Wireless long-range electric shock weapon

Taser International
TASER International
Taser International, Inc. is a developer, manufacturer, and distributor of the Taser less-lethal electroshock guns in the United States. It is based at Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. Taser is the most common brand of electroshock gun.-History:...

 has developed a long-range wireless electro-shock projectile called XREP (eXtended Range Electro-Muscular Projectile), which can be fired from any 12-gauge shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...

. It contains a small high-voltage battery. Its range is currently 100 feet (30.5 m), but the U.S. Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

, which has funded development of the technology, expects delivery of a 300 feet (91.4 m) range projectile of this type from the company in 2007. An XREP projectile was controversially used by British police during the 2010 Northumbria Police manhunt
2010 Northumbria Police manhunt
-Birtley shootings:Moat was released from Durham prison on 1 July, and allegedly arrived in the early hours of 3 July 2010 at a house in Birtley where Stobbart and her new partner – 29-year-old karate instructor, Chris Brown – were visiting. Brown had moved to the area from Windsor,...

  It subsequently transpired that the XREP has never been officially approved for use in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and the weapon system was provided unrequested to the police at the scene directly by the civilian company which distributes Taser International's products in the UK. The company's license to provide Taser systems was afterwards revoked by the Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...

 Theresa May
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May is a British Conservative politician who is Home Secretary in the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition government. She was elected to Parliament in 1997 as the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead, and served as the Chairman of the Conservative Party, 2003–04...

.

The Leyden Gun is another long-range electric shock weapon being developed by Nova Technologies in cooperation with Oleg Nemtyshkin. This weapon uses simple needles rather than barbed darts and these do not stick to the target but instead administer a single jolt from a high-voltage capacitor. Range is 30 meters, the same as the XREP.

Stun belts

A stun belt is a belt that is fastened around the subject's waist, leg, or arm that carries a battery and control pack, and contains features to stop the subject from unfastening or removing it. A remote-control signal is sent to tell the control pack to give the subject an electric shock. Some models are activated by the subject's movement.

The United States uses these devices to control prisoners. One type is the REACT belt
REACT belt
A stun belt is a belt that is fastened around the subject's waist, leg, or arm that carries a battery and control pack, and contains features to stop the subject from unfastening or removing it. A remote-control signal is sent to tell the control pack to give the subject an electric shock...

. Some stun belts can restrain the subject's hands and have a strap going under the subject's groin to stop him from rotating the belt around the subject's waist and trying to deactivate it. Stun belts are not generally available to the public.

Electric shock prods

It is similar in basic design to an electric cattle prod
Cattle prod
A cattle prod, also called a stock prod, is a handheld device commonly used to make cattle or other livestock move by striking or poking them, or in the case of a Hot-Shot-type prod, through a relatively high-voltage, low-current electric shock...

. It has a metal end split into two parts electrically insulated from each other, or two thin projecting metal electrodes about an inch apart, at an end of a shaft containing the batteries and mechanism. At the other end of the shaft are a handle and a switch. Both electrodes must touch the subject. In some types the sides of the baton can be electrified to stop the subject from grasping the baton above the electrodes. They are often carried in a sheath slung on a belt. Some such devices are available disguised as other objects, such as umbrellas, cell-phones or pens. They may have an option to make a noisy visible electric arc between the electrodes, to warn potential victims.

Some models are built into long flashlight
Flashlight
A flashlight is a hand-held electric-powered light source. Usually the light source is a small incandescent lightbulb or light-emitting diode...

s also designed to administer an electric shock with its lit end's metal surround (which is split into halves insulated from each other).

In the beginning of the design, police used electric cattle prod
Cattle prod
A cattle prod, also called a stock prod, is a handheld device commonly used to make cattle or other livestock move by striking or poking them, or in the case of a Hot-Shot-type prod, through a relatively high-voltage, low-current electric shock...

s as electric shock prods.

Prototype designs

Due to increased interest in developing non-lethal weapons, mainly from the U.S. Military, a number of new types of electroshock weapon are being researched. They are designed to provide a "ranged" non-lethal weapon.

There is a prototype of using laser to create conducting channel, electrolaser
Electrolaser
An electrolaser is a type of electroshock weapon which is also a directed-energy weapon. It uses lasers to form an electrically conductive laser-induced plasma channel...

.

Weapons that administer electric shock through a stream of fluid

Prototype electroshock guns exist that replace the solid wire with a stream of conductive liquid (e.g., salt water), which offers the range of a Taser (or better) and the possibility of multiple shots. See Electrified water cannon
Electrified water cannon
This was a non-lethal weapon under early research by Jaycor Tactical Systems, as part of a program to produce non-lethal weapons for law enforcement officers. It is sometimes referred to as the electrocuting water cannon; however, the proposal was for low current, high voltage pulses like those...

. Difficulties associated with this experimental design include:
  • "Non-continuous" discharge onto subject: liquid stream needs over 30 feet and over 5-second discharge
  • "Pooling" of conductive liquid at base of subject, making apprehension of subject difficult by observing officers
  • Need to carry a large tank of the liquid used, and a propellant canister, like a “water gun”, to administer consecutive bursts of liquid over distances.


Another design, announced by Rheinmetall W&M as a prototype in 2003, uses an aerosol
Aerosol
Technically, an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas. Examples are clouds, and air pollution such as smog and smoke. In general conversation, aerosol usually refers to an aerosol spray can or the output of such a can...

 as the conductive medium. The manufacturers called it a "Plasma Taser"; however, this is only a marketing name, and the weapon does not use plasma
Plasma (physics)
In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms , thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions...

. Problems associated with this design include:
  • Poor electrical conductivity
  • Range of concept design is nominal (a gas cannot be propelled greater than 10 feet effectively)
  • The "gassing effect": all subjects in enclosed spaces are subjected to same effects.

Controversies

Because of the use of electricity and the claim of the weapon being non-lethal, controversy has sprouted over particular incidents involving the weapon and the use of the weapon in general. In essence, controversy has been centered on the justification of the use of the weapon in certain instances, and, in some cases, health issues that are claimed to be due to the use of the weapon.

Tests conducted by the Cleveland Clinic found that Tasers did not interfere with pacemakers and implantable defibrillators. A study conducted by emergency medicine physicians at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center showed no lasting effects of the Taser on healthy test subjects. However, Taser International no longer claims the devices are "non-lethal", instead saying they "are more effective and safer than other use-of-force options".

Currently, Tasers are programmed to be activated in automatic five second bursts, although the officer can stop the energy charge at any time by engaging the safety switch. The charge can also be prolonged beyond five seconds if the trigger is held down continuously. The operator can also inflict repeated shock cycles with each pull of the trigger as long as both barbs remain attached to the subject. The only technical limit to the number or length of the electrical cycles is the life of the battery, which can be ten minutes or more.

Repeated bursts by a Taser can be lethal as evidenced by the death of the Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski
Robert Dziekanski Taser incident
Robert Dziekański was a Polish immigrant to Canada who died on October 14, 2007, after being tasered five times by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Vancouver International Airport....

  in the Vancouver, BC airport where he died after the RCMP officer, in spite of his training, repeatedly stunned him with a Taser.

The study done by Pierre Savard, Ing., PhD., Ecole Polythechnique de Montreal, et al., for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), indicated that the threshold of energy needed to induce deadly ventricular fibrillation decreased dramatically with each successive burst of pulses; however, one pulse may provide enough energy to induce deadly ventricular fibrillation in some cases. The threshold for women may be less.

Although the Taser is a programmable device, the controlling software does not limit the number of the bursts of pulses and the time between bursts while the trigger is held down continuously, or the number of times the shock cycles can be repeated. Thus the design does not adequately reduce the likelihood that the victim's heart enters into a deadly ventricular fibrillation.

Legal issues

Electroshock weapons have been made illegal in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 by supplement 2 WaffG
Gun politics in Germany
The German Weapons Act is a gun regulation law enacted in Germany in 1972. It includes, and modifies, previous gun regulation laws. It regulates the handling of knives, firearms and ammunition as well as acquisition, storage, commerce and maintenance of weapons...

 if they do not carry an official seal of approval demonstrating they do not constitute a health risk. As of July, 2011, no such seal has been issued to any device on the market. According to § 40 Abs. 4 WaffG, the German federal police
Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany)
The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany is a national investigative police agency in Germany and falls directly under the Federal Ministry of the Interior...

 may approve of exceptions though. Such a special approval for purchase, ownership and carrying was in effect until 31 December 2010. As of 1 January 2011, only devices carrying the PTB
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt is based in Braunschweig and Berlin. It is the national institute for natural and engineering sciences and the highest technical authority for metrology and physical safety engineering in Germany....

's seal of approval are legal. Previous owners may keep their devices, but cannot carry or sell them. Electroshock weapons effective over a distance, like airtasers, have been completely outlawed in Germany since 1 April 2008.

Torture

The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Committee against Torture reports that the use of Tasers can be a form of torture, due to the acute pain they cause, and warns against the possibility of death in some cases.
The use of stun belts has been condemned by Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 as torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

, not only for the physical pain the devices cause, but also for their heightened abuse potential, due to their perceived "harmlessness" in terms of causing initial injuries, like ordinary police batons do. Amnesty International has reported several alleged cases of excessive electroshock gun use that possibly amount to torture. They have also raised extensive concerns about the use of other electro-shock devices by American police and in American prisons, as they can be (and according to Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

, sometimes are) used to inflict cruel pain on individuals.

Tasers may also not leave the telltale markings that a conventional beating might. The American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...

has also raised concerns about their use, as has the British human rights organization Resist Cardiac Arrest.

External links


Patents

- Electric whaling apparatus - 1852 patent by Albert Sonnenburg and Philipp Rechten - Electric weapon - 1957 patent by Thomas D. Ryan - Electrical stun guns and electrically conductive liquids - 1989 patent by Gregory Battochi
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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