TASER

Taser International

Less lethal weapon shocks to incapacitate

The Taser is “the most popular less than lethal weapon on the planet” according to TV channel Discovery World. Brightly-coloured to signify its difference to a standard firearm, it fires two small dart-like electrodes connected by wires to the main unit, which deliver high-voltage shocks to incapacitate a person. Controversial in part because they still do cause fatalities, Tasers are part of a family of ‘less lethal’ weapons employed by the police and private security. Less lethal weapons are still dangerous and their use can lead to deaths in situations where a traditional firearm would not necessarily have been used. While causing less harm may seem like wholly a good thing, these types of weapons have the potential to institute a more insidious form of social control, by reducing the public outrage and resistance provoked by the use of weapons that more easily maim and kill.