Taser's and stun guns: Cross contamination?

[limatunes]

We had a gal in our shop order a Taser. When she came to pick it up we were all looking it over (as none of us had ever seen a Taser-brand taser before and we wanted to see what it was all about) and she asked a coworker if she zapped someone and he was touching her would she get zapped as well.

My coworker said no that it just didn't work that way.

Now, I'm not necessarily up on my science and current vs volts and all that, but I do know that we humans are pretty good conductors and one of the reasons you push someone out of the way with a non-conductive material if you think they are getting electrocuted is so you don't end up getting fried like they are.

Wouldn't the same thing apply to Tasers and stun guns?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Chooie]

Electricity will follow the path of least resistance. In this case, that is the bit of flesh between the two electrodes.

[mslaughtertx]

You are correct and I know there are reported cases of it. However, if you are touching someone takes the ride, you will be their passenger.

[Randy]

Unless you make physical contact somewhere between the probes on the person shot or somehow get tangled up in the wires, you will not receive a shock.

When deployed in LE use, the assisting officer's job is to cuff the suspect while the TASER is still running. That is, he makes contact with the suspect while the suspect is being shocked.

I do a demo of this in our classes, to show you will not be shocked, by sparking the TASER and holding my keys (by the metal ring), a drink can, or something else conductive close to the electrodes so the arc will contact it.

Which one did the person get? C2, M18, or X26c? I am a TASER instructor but I've not had the training on the C2 yet.

Randy

[SIXTO]

Randy is 100% correct, however, in rare cases the charge can/will jump from person to person. I had this happen to me after a pretty good fight with a suspect, both of us were covered in sweat. I delivered a drive stun, and felt the shock in my hand. It was no where near full power, but I definitely felt it.

So bottom line is, the arc can jump but it is rare. The charge will only travel between the two probes under 99.9% of conditions.

[limatunes]

Good to know! I always thought it was pretty silly to get a stun gun when, if your bad guy is touching you, you are in a sense just going to end up zapping yourself. It's nice to know that wouldn't happen (usually).

Which one did the person get? C2, M18, or X26c? I am a TASER instructor but I've not had the training on the C2 yet.

It was a C2. We don't carry them in the store but we can order them and this was the first one we had ever ordered so none of us knew a darned thing about it.

We were trying to read the instruction booklet and other customers were coming in, she was asking us a million questions about it and we never really did get all the information we wanted. They sent a DVD with the taser for the customer to watch but, of course, we didn't get the chance to watch it.

I've never used a taser or stun gun but they are getting increasingly popular around here and I wanted to make sure if I were asked questions I didn't have wrong information.

I tried watching some of the videos on Taser's website but for some reason my computer won't load them. :(

[SIXTO]

I'm sure Taser will send some stuff out to the shop so the staff could better answer questions, perhaps even a sales display. They are pretty good about those sorts of things.

[Randy]

Sixto - I don't doubt your experience at all. There had to be a conduction path involving your hand that was of lower resistance than the path between the contacts.

Randy

[HKinNY]

I am open for shot from a taser. I am so used to tht shock that everybody gets when they accidentialy touch something that I must lick my fingers to feel 110 volts. I have played with a neon sign transformer and house oil burner tranformer each producing 50,000 volts they give a good kick. Would like to see one in action.

[Ragin Cajun]

The C2 is the personal defense model. Once the button is pressed, it deploys the darts and dicharges for 30 seconds. It is made to deploy, drop it, and run to get away from your attacker while he is still getting zapped. You can also use it as a stun gun once deployed. Once the 30 seconds are up, press the button again and it starts another 30 seconds. It can be stopped by closing the cover. They are nice for a civilian model.

[sheepdog]

I can't imagine a 30 second, solid hookup/large muscle area hit. The guys I know that take the 5 second hits in class said it was the longest 5 seconds of their life. I took a fraction of that and was convinced.

[Randy]

With the X26c (citizen model) the pulse rate drops almost in half after the first few seconds. The cycle time is 10 seconds per trigger press and you can pull the trigger two additional times for a total of run time of 30 seconds. There's also a 1 second pause between each 10 second cycle. How does this compare with the C2?

Here's a short video clip with the demo I mentioned earlier.

Randy

[Ragin Cajun]

With the X26c (citizen model) the pulse rate drops almost in half after the first few seconds. The cycle time is 10 seconds per trigger press and you can pull the trigger two additional times for a total of run time of 30 seconds. There's also a 1 second pause between each 10 second cycle. How does this compare with the C2?

Here's a short video clip with the demo I mentioned earlier.

Randy

I did forget to mention that the C2 drops the pulse rate as well during the 30 second cycle. I don't remember exactly what it is but I believe it drops down towards the middle and then raps up with an increase towards the end. I got that off the DVD that came with it. I volunteer at my chuch to help out with security and carry one, along with other tools when I serve. The church owns it.

Question for you Randy. After the voltage stops, do you regain full function pretty quick? The video indicated and warns that most do. I've never been tased and have no desire to. One guy asked if we taser each other like the police do during training. I told him we are not police and I also carry a 40 cal. and I have no desire to be shot with one of them either.

[Randy]

With the exception of possible muscle strain, when it's off, it's over. You are immediately ready to go. Run, fight, whatever. This is why it is recommended that a secondary officer handcuff the suspect before the TASER cycle completes. It is also recommended that the suspect take the full cycle. In other words, don't turn it off before the 5 second timer has expired.

If one were to fall and hit their head on something hard while being tased, they may not be so ready to go when the TASER is done. That's a different issue though.

I can understand your position against being tased. The point you make also holds true for OC. The reason for being tased is two fold. Let me give you a couple of examples.

1) Someone within TASER range points a TASER at you and threatens you. Is a lethal force response prudent? Can you articulate why (either way)?

2) During your your criminal trial or civil suit: Do you know what kind of torture and debilitating injury that TASER device caused for my client?

Hope this helps.

Randy

[Randy]

I meant to post this last night and ended up not getting back to the computer.

I volunteer at my chuch to help out with security and carry one, along with other tools when I serve. The church owns it.

I'm just wondering what type of threat you are planning to address at your church, given that you've selected a TASER as one of your tools.

It isn't a bad option to have a lower level of force available. However, the TASER isn't the correct level of force for the types of church attacks that I've been seeing in the news.

I think it's a great first step that people are taking their own personal safety seriously.

Randy