The Story of Tasers

{{{Evolution|Development}}} of the Modern Day {{{Tasers|Taser Gun|Air Tasers|T.A.S.E.R.s}}}

Tasers have come a long way in the last 4 decades. The 1st generation of projectile firing stun guns was created in the late 1960’s by an aerospace engineer named Jack Cover. He created a small hand held cylindrical device that used gunpowder to blast 2 projectiles about 15 feet. These projectiles resembled 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 crude model, 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 produce 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 unit with it’s cylindrical shape was not created to look like a handgun, but because it was powered by an explosive gunpowder charge, it had to be listed by the ATF. After much discussion, the ATF sadly lumped it in with sawed-off shotguns as a Title 2 weapon available only to law enforcement. 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 unique electronic self defense device, 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 quickly brought in Jack Cover as an employee, and began to design the next generation of electronic weapon. The new design was called the Air Taser 34000 and was basically similar to the old TF-76, with 2 new key features: it used compressed air to launch the projectiles, and when deployed, the 34000 dispersed Anti Felon ID Tags for easy tracing by law enforcement agencies.

As word spread though the law enforcement community, the Air Taser Company was invited by the Czech police to test and demo the devices in Europe. The show proved to be a total disappointment as repeated police officers were able “fight through the pain” and lay hands on the person shooting the Air Taser 34000. After returning home defeated and embarrassed, the team began to develop a more effective technology. They realized that the stun gun effects of the model 34000 did not neuromuscularly incapacitate an assailant, 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 created. Eventually, thousands of international law enforcement agencies readily accepted this new technology,implementing the non-lethal weapon as an alternative to using deadly force. 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 made 60% smaller and lighter than the M26, but packed a greater wallop! 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 shotgun deployed, up to 100 feet away!!

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