Harry Tuttle
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Taser develops shock shotgun shells
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiheral...7.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_national
The stun-gun manufacturer 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.
BY AMANDA LEE MYERS
Associated Press
PHOENIX - 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 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.
DOUBLE IMPACT
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.
Taser hopes to release the product in 2007. The Office of Naval Research funded the approximately $500,000 it took to develop the shotgun shells, Tuttle said.
The company has been selling its stun-gun weapons to law enforcement agencies since 1998. Currently more than 175,000 Tasers are being used by more than 8,500 agencies in the United States. More than 100,000 of the devices have been sold to private U.S. citizens, and U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq also use them, Tuttle said.
The devices have sparked safety concerns. In Miami-Dade County, following reports that Miami-Dade County police officers used Tasers on children, lawmakers recently imposed a five-day waiting period and background checks when purchasing a Taser or other electronic control device.'' Buyers also will have to undergo safety training.
50,000 VOLTS
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 25 feet away.
Test models of the XREP shells currently reach 100 feet.
Already, the product is drawing criticism from human rights organizations, which 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?''
According to Amnesty International's count, more than 120 people shocked with a Taser have died shortly afterward in the United States and Canada.
Taser denies that its products are solely to blame in any deaths, arguing that drugs, health conditions or other factors -- not the electrical shock -- have been the cause. The company also contends Tasers have saved the lives of thousands of suspects who might otherwise have been shot by police.
But Taser-related deaths have prompted some police departments to reconsider the necessity of the devices, and lawmakers in Florida and Georgia have introduced bills restricting their use.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiheral...7.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_national
The stun-gun manufacturer 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.
BY AMANDA LEE MYERS
Associated Press
PHOENIX - 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 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.
DOUBLE IMPACT
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.
Taser hopes to release the product in 2007. The Office of Naval Research funded the approximately $500,000 it took to develop the shotgun shells, Tuttle said.
The company has been selling its stun-gun weapons to law enforcement agencies since 1998. Currently more than 175,000 Tasers are being used by more than 8,500 agencies in the United States. More than 100,000 of the devices have been sold to private U.S. citizens, and U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq also use them, Tuttle said.
The devices have sparked safety concerns. In Miami-Dade County, following reports that Miami-Dade County police officers used Tasers on children, lawmakers recently imposed a five-day waiting period and background checks when purchasing a Taser or other electronic control device.'' Buyers also will have to undergo safety training.
50,000 VOLTS
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 25 feet away.
Test models of the XREP shells currently reach 100 feet.
Already, the product is drawing criticism from human rights organizations, which 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?''
According to Amnesty International's count, more than 120 people shocked with a Taser have died shortly afterward in the United States and Canada.
Taser denies that its products are solely to blame in any deaths, arguing that drugs, health conditions or other factors -- not the electrical shock -- have been the cause. The company also contends Tasers have saved the lives of thousands of suspects who might otherwise have been shot by police.
But Taser-related deaths have prompted some police departments to reconsider the necessity of the devices, and lawmakers in Florida and Georgia have introduced bills restricting their use.