How the Taser Was Invented

Early use of an electronic mastery gimmick , like the TASER , by police force enforcement occurred in the 1960s when American police officers used galvanic cattle prods to circularize polite Rights militant . As for the earliest cattle spur , this came about when discoverer John Burton of Wichita , Kansas received a patent ( US427549 A ) in the late 1800s for such a twist .

While a simplistic blueprint ( two prongs attached to a longsighted barrel ) , it served its purpose of deliver an electrical shock through a cow ’s hide to incite it through a parachute . Unlike stun guns , cattle prods are not design to incapacitate an individual or animal , simply birth a painful shock to a localize domain . On the other mitt , stun gun are unremarkably designed to deliver even large voltages for overwhelm the body ’s nervous system .

So who invented the TASER , specifically ? NASA investigator Jack Cover was among the legion other inventors who developed forms of these type of ( normally ) nonlethal electric arm . ( See : Can Stun Guns Cause Cardiac Arrest ) . Cover , determine to create a artillery that officers could use in situations such as plane hijackings where firing a gun could potentially be a risky musical theme , take brainchild from a newspaper publisher article about a man surviving a tally - in with an galvanic fencing . “ When he read what had materialise , he sleep together an electric current could be used without danger,”his married woman saidafter Cover ’s death .

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screen patent the design for a twist that he named the TASER in 1974 . The TASER was standardized to other stun guns invented during the 1960s and 1970s ; it delivered an electric current via a pair of electrodes connect to the grease-gun by wires and that were shot at an assailant . However , because TASERs used powder to fire the projectiles , the United States government sort them as firearm , which severely limited the sale of the equipment , with just a choice number of police section seek it out . Cover then founded TASER Systems to sell his invention to jurisprudence enforcement , though the company filed bankruptcy and was sell to an investor who change the name to Tasertron .

One such way that purchased TASERs was the Los Angeles Police Department . LAPD officers famously used a TASER in an effort to conquer Rodney King in 1991 , but the equipment had little essence . That loser inspired Patrick “ Rick ” Smith to exploit with Cover to change the TASER so that the dart fired via compressed air rather than powder , among other improvements . That simple change meant their stun guns could more well be sold to the universal public .

Smith and his chum , Tom , then formed Air TASER , Inc. in 1993 , basing the party out of Scottsdale , Arizona . The company ab initio sell their TASERs to the general public after settle a court of justice battle with Tasertron , which claimed to have the exclusive right wing to sell TASERs to law enforcement . The liquidation keeping Air TASER out of the legal philosophy enforcement marketplace ended Tasertron ’s undivided rights in 1998 , and the Smith brothers ’ business began to take off with more and more law department across the United States gird their officers with TASERs and standardized devices . Specifically , between the years 2000 and 2013 , the telephone number of jurisprudence enforcement arrangement using TASERs jump from 500 to approximately 17,000 .

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Such a rise in TASER utilization has go to a middling share of controversy . Despite initial claims of TASER International that the arm are nonlethal , Amnesty International states that 540 death across the United States between 2001 and 2013 can be linked to TASERs . The American Heart Association write an clause in its journal Circulation that looked at eight cases of TASER use on suspects and found that TASER use can result in cardiac arrest in a person . TASER International has argued that the modified figure of typesetter’s case studies does not bestow itself to the drafting of all-embracing conclusions , though for legal understanding have switch their posture more or less , now warning that their product can cause “ heart charge per unit , rhythm seizure and cardiac arrest . ”

constabulary enforcement officials from around the world have taken notice and get down to change their insurance policy on the usage of ECD ’s ( Electronic Control Devices , like the TASER ) . For instance , in September of 2012 , the Cincinnati Police Department change its rules mandating , “ Frontal shots are proscribe except in situation of self - defense or defense of another . ” Most who have changed their policies are quick to place out that ECDs protect and hold open countless lives every day . The issue of those save , where police would have normally had to resort to much more deadly force anyway , drastically overbalance any danger associated with using the devices . ( Again , for more on this , see the article from our nonmigratory medical pro : Can Stun Guns Cause Cardiac Arrest )

In the end , the offspring is seemingly not so much with the ECDs themselves , but likely over utilisation of them in situations that might not warrant it . Each police force section in the United States creates its own policies regarding TASERs and other ECDs , though there is an effort to install interior guideline for their employment . Towards this conclusion , The Police Chief magazine impart a subject field at the Orlando Police Department in 2010 in response to a public requirement for stricter insurance regarding the economic consumption of TASERs . The study concluded that ask police policeman to only apply TASERs in situations where a suspect offer combat-ready resistance as opposed to peaceful immunity marginally increase injury pace to officers , but lessen injury to suspects . They also noted that suspect resistance also minify when ECDs were not used .

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Bonus Facts :

Burton ’s cattle prod was not the first instance of someone inventing a equipment to attempt to , in a non - deadly way , control a living affair with electricity . This first known such gimmick was cook up all the way back in 1852 and was an “ Electric Whaling Apparatus . ” ( US Patent 8843 ) This equipment was essentially just an electrified version of the harpoon , with promise of stunning the heavyweight to increase the likelihood of catch it and diminish peril to the whalers . ( See : A Real Life White Whale that Destroyed Over 20 Whaling Ships and Survived Encounters with Another 80 )

The name TASERwas inspired by science fable novelsthat Jack Cover say as a child . It stands for “ Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle ” after the novel “ Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle . ”

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The “ Use - of - Force Continuum ” denotes five level of suspect resistor : No resistance , Verbal noncompliance , peaceful impedance , combat-ready electric resistance , Aggressive resistance , Deadly - forcefulness resistance .

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