Future Developments: Shotgun Style Tasers

The development of stun guns continues. Taser is planning on a wireless technology which would extend the range and the duration of the weapon:

“…The first electrode hooks on to the target, the second electrode falls and makes contact elsewhere on the body, completing the circuit and activating the shock. It can blast someone as far as 30 metres away, and, unlike the current stun guns, whose shock lasts five seconds, the XREP lasts 20 seconds, enough time to “take the offender into custody without risking injury to officers.”"

link: Tasers: the next generation

With the current concern about the safety of Tasers, it seems that increasing the duration of the shock begs for empirical data to quantify the long term effects. The research dilemma is how this advancement would be tested, with adequate experimental paradigms, to yield valid results.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster:  http://flyinghamster.com/

[tag]tasers, range, duration, the next wave, security, research, paradigm, validity, wireless[/tag]