[Calebra]

I am thinking about giving out stunguns as presents to a couple of ladies I know. At least untill I can convince them that guns are not evil. I want to make sure these little things are worth the trouble first. Anyone had any experience with stunguns and seen or felt if they are really a worthwhile deterent?

 

[Salekdarling]

I am thinking about giving out stunguns as presents to a couple of ladies I know. At least untill I can convince them that guns are not evil. I want to make sure these little things are worth the trouble first. Anyone had any experience with stunguns and seen or felt if they are really a worthwhile deterent?

I am a Police Academy cadet and just Thursday night the students from the previous class were being certified with tasers. My class was able to observe students being tased. I took a video but unfortunately am not at liberty to post it due to confidentiality...the video was only for my amusement.

Anyway, what I observed and will be experiencing before graduation is that the target when stuck with the gun or taser will tense up. They have 50,000 volts of electricity running through their bodies for five seconds Their entire body goes rigid and they can not move a single muscle. After five seconds of being tased, the person will most likely be on the floor and will not move for at least 20 seconds to 1 minute which is AMPLE time for a person to haul ass and get away.

The person will be deterred but it does not completely stop them. I highly recommend the taser as a safer alternative to using a deadly weapon. Personally, I prefer my gun but getting sued criminally and civilly always worries me so I'll probably being using a taser mostly...depending on if my department allows the use of tasers. :2thumb:

 

[SurviveNthrive]

I am thinking about giving out stunguns as presents to a couple of ladies I know. At least untill I can convince them that guns are not evil. I want to make sure these little things are worth the trouble first. Anyone had any experience with stunguns and seen or felt if they are really a worthwhile deterent?

One point of clarification, the question asks about stun guns, a very different item than Tasers. There is a night and day difference between the two devices and Salekdarling provided a good view of a police issue Taser.

A Taser will tick a person off, and it will have an actual physiological effect whereas the stun gun won't.

This is a video of a bull being Tasered to show it's not a psychological effect (animal control version):

http://www.truveo.com/used-bull-getting-tasered/id/4258813354

Notice what the bull does when it gets back up!~ And that's an old style Taser.

This is a video of girl stun gunned that shows stun guns are a joke (posted by some guy who doesn't know a Taser from a stun gun:

another one, it's merely irritating:

This kid is taking short shocks, but it shows he's still in control of it. (In contrast, a Taser goes for seconds when activated.)

Notice this young man isn't deterred from going to the next highest level device, he's hesitant at most, amused and he doesn't even have the sick motivation of a predator but he continues self inflicting the shocks.

A predator, is different than the individuals you see shy away from the devices in the video. By nature, most show in these clips aren't predators, their instinct is to get away, an aggressive individual, which includes most predators will have the instinct to remain in the fight and simply redirect the device.

A stun gun is worthless against an aggressive or knowledgeable perp, especially in the hands of most women. While a Taser is a ranged device (short range), a stun gun requires physical contact, which puts a person right there in arms reach of the perp when he's irritated and the contact is easily broken.

I received the formal training for one of the stun guns they tried to sell to law enforcement and there's a reason police carry Tasers, as opposed to stun guns. In training I received two 'burn' marks from so long a charge the marks took months to go away, but even then, the device didn't deter me, nor did it cause more than mild irritation.

An intelligent, experienced predator would much prefer his victim have a stun gun than not have one, because if she's foolish enough to have a stun gun, she might think it's worth grabbing first and stand her ground. If she grabs her cell phone and runs the Cops will eventually arrive so that limits time he has with her. If she simply uses her nails she'd mark her perp's face, but if she relies upon a stun gun she'll 1. Instantly have her confidence eroded when it means nothing to the perp, 2. she wasted her initial response and 3. resorted to a crap device that required her to stay in easy reach of the perp.

She'd be better off trying to run away while dialing 911.

[Make contact with fingers, gonads, jaw bones, and you'll have some better effects. They suck when applied to joints! Now having a physically fit, aggressive trained individual who has the ability to make and maintain a decent contact with a modern stun gun for seconds as part of a team is a totally different story. Handing a PR 24 or even an ASP to a woman with no training to defend themselves against a determined perp is similar in being a bad use of a device.]

Back to Tasers, there's a problem there as well...the civilian accessible version has a much shorter range than the police version.

 

[Salekdarling]

Thanks for clarifying the difference. I didn't even know there was one. I assumed they shared the same affects... but than again I haven't taken my taser training yet and what I do know was from school Thursday.

 

[SurviveNthrive]

Another cool thing about a Taser is you can do a 'drive stun' with them...without shooting off the cartridge you can make contact and apply some power on a perp. Unfortunately for a Bart Cop a few years back, he'd possibly the old style Taser with a grip that felt identical to the Glock, and had it mounted lower, as many did back then. He reached for Taser, came up with Glock and surprised everyone, especially the perp he killed on camera.

Now to me, this is the coolest thing...check out the shotgun's forestock as it's a Taser as well:

http://www.infiniteunknown.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/taser-shotgun.jpg

 

[Salekdarling]

Oh, I want that. I plan on joining a SERT team in my career. I am keeping that taser in mind.:2thumb:

 

[SurviveNthrive]

OC or pepper spray is wicked stuff...in this clip they use a familiar brand...Def-Tec!

But these guys are prissy, knees buckling, making pain sounds from a light spray. Some American male and female cops, correctional officers, and even some security guards take full shots in the face with eyes open. Heck, even cadets in most places get the full treatment.

At least these guys are game:

I'd not volunteer for that! That's one heck of a show, but if we did that show here, we'd be using both girls and guys!

Of course, they need to get tasered.

They flew all the way to Seattle for this.

.

 

[Calebra]

Thanks everyone for answering. I decided that it's not the best idea--nothing worth than reliing on a weapon only to see that it's not up to the task and your chance to get away is already gone.

 

[SurviveNthrive]

I prefer OC because it gives me a less lethal alternative, it can have some range, and it's condusive to getting away!

It's a better gift to give someone who doesn't have the lethal force option as well.