The History of Tasers

Tasers have been through many changes since the eary prototypes. The 1st generation of projectile firing stun guns was built in the late 1960’s by a NASA scientist named Jack Cover. He created a small hand held tubular device that used gunpowder to explosively propel 2 projectiles about 5 yards. These projectiles looked like heavy darts with reverse barbs connected to thin insulated wires shot out of a flashlight. The entire unit was dubbed the Taser TF-76. This prototype, and the next few that followed, were simply used to shock someone into submission by delivering an electrical charge large enough to achieve “pain compliance”. So Jack Cover began a company to manufacture these devices, and it is believed that that T.A.S.E.R. was an acronym inspired from the childhood novel Tom Swift and his Electric Rifle. This weapon with it’s cylindrical shape was not created to look like a firearm, but because it was powered by an explosive gunpowder charge, it had to be controlled by the feds. After much discussion, the ATF sadly lumped it in with sawed-off shotguns as a Title 2 weapon available only to police. This severly limited the market and the first few models and production soon died out.

Then in 1993, two Arizona brothers set out to make a new type of stun gun, that would be not be illegal to carry. They called Jack Cover who had an idea, to use compressed air or nitrogen deploy the darts. They immediately hired Jack Cover as an employee, and began to work together on the 2nd generation of Taser. This model was called the Air Taser 34000 and was basically the same as the old TF-76, with 2 new key features: it used compressed air to propel the projectiles, and when fired, the 34000 dispersed Anti Felon ID Tags for easy tracking by police agencies.

As popularity spread though the police community, the Air Taser Company was invited by the Czech police to provide a live demonstration in Prague. The presentation turned out to be a total failure as repeated police officers were able “fight through the pain” and take down the person deploying the Air Taser 34000. Upon returning home defeated and embarrassed, the team began to design a more reliable technology. They realized that the stun gun effects of the model 34000 did not cause someone to completely lose muscle control, especially if that assailant was strong of mind. They worked on a new electrical waveform, that would deliver uncontrollable muscle spasms, to render even the most aggressive, drug crazed attacker completely helpless. The Advanced Taser M18 and M26 models were born. After that, thousands of international law enforcement agencies readily accepted this new technology,implementing the non-lethal weapon as an alternative to using a gun. In addition to the AFID confetti, a computer dataport was added to track usage on the job. The X26 debuted in 2003 and was the first Taser model to feature the patented “shaped pulse technology.” The X26 was created 60% smaller and lighter than the M26, but packed a much bigger punch! As popularity of the Taser grew, demand for more non-gun appearing consumer friendly models led to the creation of the Taser C2 which looks more like a shaver than a weapon. Recent developments in Taser technology include a wireless missile that can be shot from a shotgun, up to 100 feet away!!

Article Source: http://www.109b.com/artdash

Richard Fan is a practicing emergency/trauma physican assistant in a busy Southern California ER, and an medical officer on the national disaster response team, DMAT CA-1.  Routinely treating victims of assault, rape, and robbery, he has developed a passion and expertise in Personal Safety Thru Smart Technology.  Learn more about Tasers, Pepper Sprays, and more at SmartLifeStore.com

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