Tasers – Ruled Non-lethal ?

We are all hearing more and more about tasers as a self-defense weapon these days. There is a lot of information swirling around and it is difficult to determine what is accurate and what it not.

Here are some accurate facts. Tasers are powerful, yet non-lethal self-defense weapons. They work by interrupting the function of muscles and nerves through a powerful current. They can be deployed from up to 15 feet away from an attacker and they will render the attacker incapacitated because of overriding the neuro- muscular system in the body. The attacker will stay incapacitated long enough for you to get away to safety and call for help.

A growing number of people are choosing the non-lethal tasers over buying a gun, which, too many times is a lethal weapon. Most people don’t necessarily want to kill an attacker; they simply want to get away from the attacker and let the police arrest and deal with the situation.

There are conflicting reports as to whether tasers are lethal or not. An article from the National Post on May 7, 2008 stated that this issue was taken to court and the court ruled that there was no evidence that tasers were the cause of death or in any way a contributing factor in the deaths of at least 68 individuals that were involved in crimes. In each of these situations, a medical condition or other situation was determined to be the cause of death.

This is very important information, because there have been numerous times when the blame has been erroneously placed on the weapon. Of course, it is extremely important to get accurate information and training with any weapon so there is no unnecessary injury to yourself or others.