New Taser: Non-Lethals and Amnesty International

Caught this at Gun Watch.

The leading taser manufacturer in the US has developed a taser that can be fired from a shotgun.

The nation's largest stun-gun manufacturer is working on a new way to deliver electricity to the human body: through 12-gauge shotgun shells.

Though it's still being developed, Taser International Inc. says the new product will allow police officers and U.S. troops to hit someone from a much greater distance than its current line of Tasers, which Amnesty International has cited in more than 120 deaths.

The eXtended Range Electro-Muscular Projectile, or XREP, will be a shotgun shell designed to combine the blunt-force trauma of a fast-moving baseball with the electrical current of a stun gun.

"It will truly cause incapacitation," company spokesman Steve Tuttle said.

Fascinating that the article starts out with a statement from Amnesty International. The group that just doesn't get the concept of the non-lethal weapon. I'll get to this more below.

Tasers shoot two barbed darts that deliver 50,000-volt jolts to the human body using a special electrical wave form that overwhelms the nervous system and temporarily paralyzes people.

But the weapons, considered by the company to be low-level-force devices, can hit a target only about 25 feet away.

Test models of the XREP shells currently reach 100 feet, though the military has challenged the company to extend the range to 330 feet, the company said.

"It's going to give you a pretty good thump when it hits," said Taser President Tom Smith, "but our design goal is to make it safe even at the muzzle."

Now that is cool. This should increase the police's ability to take down dangerous criminals from a distance with less risk. The military applications are even better. I wonder how accurate the round is though.

Already, the product is drawing criticism from human rights organizations, who have accused law-enforcement agencies of using the existing Tasers when more humane options are available. Amnesty International has called for independent studies on their safety.

"Amnesty's concern with this product would be similar to those with Tasers being used currently," said Amnesty International spokesman Edward Jackson. "Where is the independent comprehensive medical testing? In the absence of that testing, we run the risk of turning private citizens into guinea pigs."

Well I'm going to guess that testing is done, though I think AI completely misses the point of the use of non-lethals. The concept shouldn't be the assurance that the non-lethal won't hurt or kill, but that it is much less likely to. Here's a comparison. Taser or 9mm round. Do you use the non-lethal or the lethal on a criminal? I suppose AI would prefer that the police merely allow the criminal to go there own way rather than risk injuring them. Personally, I'd rather they be tasered and arrested rather than having me put a .45 hollow point into them.

I fully understand that there have been misuses of the taser, but that doesn't negate the appropriateness of such a weapon in the police's arsenal.