Police groups say Taser International Inc.’s latest consumer weapon, a palm-sized stun gun in metallic pink and three other colors that will start shipping next month, may end up helping the bad guys.
“Inevitably, this will fall into criminal hands,” said James Pasco, Washington-based executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, the largest law-enforcement labor union, with more than 325,000 members. “It will also be in a lot of untrained hands.”
I have to say the company has come up with an innovative answer to this critter getting into the hands of your friendly neighborhood gangsta wannabes.
“And we have a successful anti-felon identification program,” Tuttle said. “When you shoot, it disperses 20 to 30 pieces of confetti with serial numbers on them that can be matched to the owner of the Taser. It’s like leaving your business cards behind at a crime scene.”
The coppers can not only track down the thug using one of these – he gets charged with littering on top of everything else.
Yet another example of your police force not trusting you with the same technology they have.
The anti-gun people ought to love this as it gives a less than lethal alternative to a handgun. My bet is that at least one anti-gun group will come out against it. This will prove that the anti-gun folks are not, in fact, concerned about firearm related deaths but about having a population that counts on the government to protect them.
Also, at $349 a piece and $25/ reload they certainly won’t be considered Saturday night specials.
And they have their on little registration system.
1 Registration Card
Activation/Registration required for
unit to operate. Age and background
check will be performed at activation.
$9.99 fee at time of activation.
TASER® energy weapon’s are not considered firearms — they’re legal to carry in most states without permits (including California). Restricted from citizen use in MA, RI, NY, NJ, WI, MI, HI, IL and certain cities and counties.
I don’t have and don’t care to have a handgun but I did order one of these a few weeks back… It’s a good alternative at a cost that is equal to or less than a good handgun.
There’s an old saw to the effect that if you draw a gun, you’d better be prepared to use it. I won’t keep a gun because I know, about myself, that pulling it out in a crisis would not solve my reluctance to take an irrevocable step, an dpulling a gun, then hesitating, can be fatal.
I suspect a Taser would not present such a problem. nor would I feel bad about getting one for my wife. I bet that puts me dead center in the group that company wants to market to.
I imagine people with pacemakers might not t feel quite as secure if Tasers were common accessories. At least, I imagine a Taser could fry up most such electronics pretty quickly.
Too bad none of the students at Virginia Tech had one of these.
The first person I mentioned this to – a female retiree – responded, “Where can I get one? Some color other than pink.”
You know, gig, your last sentence is illogical even within the paranoid world of NRA nutcases. Buy a logic circuit for your crystal ball.
So who’s going to be the pink Power Ranger?
I have 4 female friends who have ordered these. It just became legal, I believe in California for ordinary folks to have them.
The local sheriff is all for these things in the hands of citizens.