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Russian Man Aims To Reinvent "Taser" Technology

Lanxon writes "A Russian man is hoping to overhaul the technology within Taser-type weapons — transforming them from single-shot, short-range devices that stun for a few seconds, into more effective long-range, rapid-fire weapons — by modifying the wires and the type of shock they generate, reports Wired. Non-lethal weapon developer Oleg Nemtyshkin's design uses bare wires, rather than the insulated wires favored by Taser and other stun gun makers. These wires weigh only about one sixteenth as much as insulated wire, providing less drag on the darts and improved accuracy. Nemtyshkin demonstrated his bare wire technology with a prototype – 'Legionary" — in 2001. His latest version is the S5, and a video of the weapon in action shows it firing repeatedly — almost as fast as the trigger can be pulled."

24 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Thank you for your wonderful contribution... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...to humanity.

  2. Carbon fibre jacket liners. by Kupfernigk · · Score: 4, Insightful
    That's almost all.

    Mobs will be led by people with carbon fibre jacket liners and helmets. Innocent people will get killed. Given the ability of our own police to shoot innocent electricians, guys carrying chair legs, and kill innocent bystanders in demonstrations, presumably pour decourager les autres, this thing is bad news for civil liberties and brings closer the risk of retaliation against the police. It sounds to me like a perfect "unintended consequences" weapon.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
  3. Interesting, but... by Nichotin · · Score: 5, Informative

    Although I think the technology is a bit interesting, I shrug every time I hear about these so-called non lethal weapons. In my head that translates into it is not lethal, so there is less of a barrier before it gets used (and from what I can hear these electroshock weapons are pretty dangerous after all anyway). I know culture is different in the USA, where the police carry guns. I live in Norway though, where law enforcement officers generally don't carry guns (!), except when they move out on criminals that are known to be armed. In the rare cases where they do use pepper spray, it sparks up debate in the newspapers. If they shoot someone, that definitily gets some attention. Electroshock weapons are not used here. The net result seems to be a non-violent society, where people feel they can walk amongst law enorcement officers without feeling alienated because they carry weapons of some sort.

    1. Re:Interesting, but... by Nichotin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      In my head that translates into "it is not lethal, so there is less of a barrier before it gets used" (and from what I can hear these electroshock weapons are pretty dangerous after all anyway).

      There, fixed my own post with corrent quotes.

      Another thing is that civilian ownership of such devices is not allowed here in Norway. I know that many people from other countries have another view on the right to defend themselves, but coming from this cold country with only five million inhabitants, I'd say "defend yourself from what?" We probably have some of the worlds highest rates of civilian firearm ownership, but having a police force that generally don't carry guns send a strong signal to the population that their government does not condone violence. Oh, and the life sentence here is 21 years, and you get parole after 16. This is why the police can even arrest murderers (most murders here are affection murders (in lack of a good translation), with a 98-99% rate of getting solved) without using weapons.

    2. Re:Interesting, but... by Sowelu · · Score: 2, Informative

      Theoretically (and according to regulations), in most places in the US, tasers are to be considered a direct replacement for standard firearms--that is, you ONLY get to taser someone if the alternative would have been actually shooting them in the shoulder or the leg to drop them. Period. The idea is that tasers are still a potentially lethal weapon...they're just LESS lethal than shooting someone in a non-vital spot.

      I'm sure most departments and most officers follow those regs...but from all the news stories and lawsuits you see, clearly not all of them do.

    3. Re:Interesting, but... by Zumbs · · Score: 5, Informative

      I live just south of Norway (in Denmark), and here the police carry guns. In the last decade, the Danish police have been shooting and killing a few citizens in questionable circumstances, but police officers have managed to get off the hook every time. A few years back this state of affairs were used to argue that the police should be equipped with pepper spray. The argument were that if the police had something between the nightstick and the gun, they might use that instead of the gun. That, however, did not happen. Police usage of guns have not decreased, but usage of pepper spray has exploded, and we have police officers spraying pepper spray into the faces of citizens who are sitting on their asses. The point here is that giving the police extra tools of this sort, as you guessed, means that the tool will often to be used in place of a less dangerous tool. I urge you (and your fellow countrymen/women) to fight hard to keep the police unarmed. It does not help much in fighting crime, it clears the field for adding more weapons to the police, and it is difficult to disarm the police at a later time. Not to mention that an armed police force breeds distrust among the *police* towards the dangerous citizens - why else would they have guns in the first place?

      --
      The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head
    4. Re:Interesting, but... by Joce640k · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The answer is to make all cops wear video cameras and record what they do.

      Transparency/accountability is the best weapon against state oppression.

      --
      No sig today...
    5. Re:Interesting, but... by ascari · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nice theory dude, but: The list of really cold places where you also have to fear the cops include Russia, most of China, Tibet, North Korea, many of the former Eastern block countries, many mountainous countries of central Asia, many countries in the Andes and so on.

      Also, I'd venture that "being stuck with irritating people" is way down there on the list of reasons why people kill each other, behind more common motives such as financial gains, passion/jealousy, drugs, politics and so on.

    6. Re:Interesting, but... by Lifyre · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm not sure where you're from but on most places I've been to in the USA the TASER is one of the earliest steps in the force continuum because when it works it immediately deescalates a confrontation.

      After all of the non-physical options are exhausted (yelling, pointing, etc..) your options are fairly limited. You can hit them with pepper spray which can maim and kill in similar fashion to the TASER but doesn't necessarily stop a suspect and frequently just pisses them off. You can grab, punch, or kick the suspect putting yourself in harms way and escalating the confrontation into a brawl. You can shoot the suspect (and you ONLY shoot to kill, there is no such thing as a shoulder of leg shot) thus invoking lethal force, and if you don't get him on the first shot expect him to respond in kind potentially escalating into a shootout with potential for collateral damage.

      Or you can shoot them with a TASER. If it works (TASER claims 99.7% effectiveness with minor injuries) it immediately stops a suspect, puts him on the ground, and effectively ends the confrontation. That said I have seen abuse of the TASER, I've read about the beating deaths, heck I've read about the NYPD shooting an unarmed suspect 47 times... Abuse happens, mistakes happen, that is why there needs to be civilian oversight and proper training of our protective forces but it doesn't mean we should take their tools away.

      --
      I'll meet you at the intersection of "Should be" and "Reality"
    7. Re:Interesting, but... by clarkkent09 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You are confusing the cause and effect by stating that police not carrying guns results in more peaceful society. I think it's the other way around.

      --
      Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
  4. Re:A few caveats... by indre1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What about people with weak hearts... They would survive one hit, but what if some triggerhappy cop gives 10 shots to a big person with a weak heart? Not so non-lethal anymore...

  5. Long Range Scenario by BradyB · · Score: 3, Funny

    Punk : Dials 911
    911 Operator : 911 what is your emergency...
    Punk : Can you forward me to the cop chasing me!?!?!?
    911 Operator : Sure. One moment.. ... Annoying Ring Tone ... boom chicka wah wah ...
    Cop Answers : Wh, who is this?
    Punk : Don't tase me bro!

    --

    Good is never enough, when you dream of being great!
  6. Re:Video? by grumbel · · Score: 4, Informative

    Might refer to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuXR0F6ZQzc

  7. Re:A few caveats... by sznupi · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's their fault for allowing themselves to fall into "excited delirium".

    --
    One that hath name thou can not otter
  8. This is going to be very bad for good citizens by lena_10326 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Of course it will immediately be adopted across police departments because as we all know tasers are perfectly safe. It is interesting to note when officers fire their pistols, they continue firing until the ammo is depleted. There is no reason to believe this practice won't continue with semi-automatic taser guns because many taser deaths were due to multiple hits from several officers. Of course these occurred because the suspect would not stop flailing about on the ground due to being repeatedly hit with electricity (officers refer to this as resisting). That is merely the unfortunate side effect of electricity causing involuntary muscle contractions.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuXR0F6ZQzc

    --
    Camping on quad since 1996.
    1. Re:This is going to be very bad for good citizens by lena_10326 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Id rather be hit with a tazer then a 40cal any day. Nothing is 100% safe

      That is a false dilemma. You have a right not to be assaulted in the first place.

      and besides 99.999% of the time you did something to warrant getting hit, so its your own damned fault if you die.

      You're right. You must have viewed the video I pasted. It was indeed that teenage boy's fault for being tasered. It was his fault that his back and leg were broken and he was in confused daze when officers tased 19 times for not complying. It was his fault he was charged with resisting arrest.

      Sarcasm aside, I suppose you believe police are infallible and there is nothing wrong with an unusually high number of otherwise peaceful people being arrested for minor infractions with charges of resisting arrest and assault on a police officer thrown in for good measure.

      Wake up. You are losing your civil rights. You probably don't realize it because it hasn't yet happened to you. Don't worry; at will at some point.

      --
      Camping on quad since 1996.
  9. Don't... by mikerubin · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...tase me, comrade

    --
    I sat down to write a new sig tonight and all I did was make the chair warm.
  10. Am I the only one? by OrwellianLurker · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Am I the only one that is seeing a quick progression towards a police state fueled largely by corporate interests and technological advances? I'm predicting a rise in "domestic terrorism" directed towards those in government. Luckily we have all these new laws to stop "domestic terrorism." I mean sure, we're giving up our constitutional rights without pause to be safe from terrorists, but who are the real terrorists? Those who invade and occupy foreign countries with the blood and money of the general population and redirect all profits towards multinational corporations? Those who bring us decades of class warfare in the "War on Drugs?" Those who masquerade as populist reformers who are really just manipulating the perceptions of their actions and doing entirely contrary actions? We have millions in prison, huge debt, legal corruption running rampant, undemocratic elections (I don't consider elections decided by the number of dollars you can get from corporations to be democratic), and so on. :(

    --
    'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' - Mao Tse-tung
  11. Re:The last I heard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    17a, Abs. 1, Versammlungsgesetz
    http://dejure.org/gesetze/VersG/17a.html
    http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzwaffe

    Better not run into police if they are in a bad mood and you're out with a few of your biking friends.

  12. 99.999% by MRe_nl · · Score: 2, Insightful

    of everything is bullshit.
    "I'd rather be hit with a tazer then a 40cal any day."
    What's that, a 9mm? Of course you'd rather be hit by a tazer than a 40cal! Bullets: 25% chance/death, 30%/chance perm.damage (Red Cross figures)
    Tazer: "Although the company spins it otherwise, Taser-associated deaths are definitely on the rise. In 2001, Amnesty International documented three Taser-associated deaths. The number has steadily increased each year, peaking at 61 in 2005. So far almost 50 deaths have occurred in 2006, for an approximate total of 200 deaths in the last five years." Not very save at all, it would seem, but better odds than any bullet.
    "Nothing is 100% safe," agreed
    "and besides 99.999% of the time you did something to warrant getting hit, so its your own damned fault if you die."
    That's just utter bollocks. "friendly fire","mistaken identity","weapon system error","overzealous operator", i could go on, i seriously think a more realistic figure would be 25% of the time you did something to warrant getting hit.
    (and yes i've been in the army and handled many different weapons).
    Some food for thought on how these systems are going to be used (on us ;():

    http://trueslant.com/allisonkilkenny/2010/03/07/normalizing-the-police-state-and-how-it-ends-with-taser-firing-drones/

    --
    "Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
  13. Re:A few caveats... by Nurseman · · Score: 3, Interesting


    What about people with weak hearts... They would survive one hit, but what if some triggerhappy cop gives 10 shots to a big person with a weak heart? Not so non-lethal anymore..

    The correct term for these weapons is "less lethal". There is no such thing as "non lethal", Even a paperclip can be lethal in some instances. Bean Bag guns, pepper spray, tasers, have all caused death in some instances. The idea is to use the "least lethal" form possible.

    --
    Save a Life. Donate Blood. Please.
  14. Finally! It's been 140 years by Protoslo · · Score: 2, Informative

    One of the Nautilus men gave me a simple gun, the butt end of which, made of steel, hollow in the centre, was rather large. It served as a reservoir of compressed air, which a valve, worked by a spring, allowed to escape into a metal tube. A box of projectiles in a groove in the thickness of the butt end contained about twenty of these electric balls, which, by means of a spring, were forced into the barrel of the gun. As soon as one shot was fired, another was ready.

    We've been waiting for it much longer than flying cars, but Captain Nemo's pulse rifle is finally coming to market (well, probably).

    Nemtyshkin's next project, the Leyden Gun, will deliver a short shock with lasting effects. The Leyden Gun is the size of a paintball rifle, with a magazine of thirty rounds. The projectiles are simple needles rather than elaborate barbed darts, as they do not stick to the target but administer a single jolt from a high-voltage capacitor.

    On the other hand...

    [A]nd finally, it was he who had killed the convicts with the electric balls, of which he possessed the secret, and which he had employed in the chase of submarine creatures.

    Admittedly, some of the precedents are a bit ominous.

    So, where can I preorder one of these?

  15. Re:A few caveats... by PitaBred · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The problem with that is that the "less lethal" weapons then get deployed more often, and the cops are held less accountable because they tried to use the "soft" weapons.

  16. Re:A few caveats... by TheLink · · Score: 2, Funny

    Would net-guns be better? I'm sure people can still be killed - fall down due to being tangled, break skull etc.

    But between getting tased (you'd likely still falldown) and getting netted, I think I might pick the net. Might need special material to make it harder to cut through with a knife.

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