Lock and Load, new guns!
NS rlz!! but DOD is better | 15.08.2005 17:29 | Technology
Interesting article from New Scientist about the latest developments in stun guns. It looks like the days of the crappy "wired" taser are over
US shoots ahead in stun gun design
15 August 2005
NewScientist.com news service
David Hambling
WEAPONS designed to fire "electric bullets" into crowds are being developed for police and border protection agencies in the US.
The Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, the domestic equivalent of the defence agency DARPA, has launched an "innovative less-lethal devices for law enforcement" programme to radically expand the capabilities of electric shock weapons.
Existing stun weapons, such as the Taser, typically fire a pair of darts trailing current-carrying wires to shock the target, with a maximum range of about 7 metres. The HSARPA programme aims to develop wireless weapons that can be used over greater distances in spaces such as "an auditorium, a city street or a sports stadium".
Lynntech of College Station, Texas, is developing a projectile that can be fired from a shotgun or 40-millimetre grenade launcher. Grenade launchers are already used by riot police to fire tear gas and baton rounds. On impact, the device sticks to the target and delivers an 80,000-volt shock for 7 seconds, using a pulsed delivery similar to that used by Tasers. Further shocks can be triggered via remote control.
Brian Hennings, system integration group leader at Lynntech, would not reveal how the projectile sticks to the person, although other weapons designed to adhere often use hooks or barbs. "The biggest problem was making the device non-lethal at minimum range, yet effective at maximum range," he says.
Hennings claims Lynntech has solved this by ensuring that its round's kinetic energy is low enough to meet the safety requirement at close range. As the projectile does not rely on impact with the body to incapacitate the person, it does not need to be fired at very high velocity. The weapon's maximum range is measured in tens of metres, the company says.
Meanwhile, Midé Technology Corporation of Medford, Massachusetts, is proposing the Piezer. Rather than conventional stun-gun circuitry, with batteries linked to transformers and a capacitor, the Piezer contains piezoelectric crystals, which produce a voltage when they are compressed. The Piezer would be fired from a 12-gauge shotgun, stunning the target with an electric shock on impact. Shotguns are already used to fire less-lethal "beanbag" rounds to subdue suspects, but these have short range. Midé claims the Piezer could be effective at 40 to 50 metres.
Using a different principle again is the Inertial Capacitive Incapacitator (ICI) being developed by the Physical Optics Corporation of Torrance, California. It uses a thin-film charge storage device that is charged during manufacture and only discharges when it strikes the target. It can be incorporated into a ring-shaped aerofoil that can be fired from a standard grenade launcher at low velocity, while still maintaining a flat trajectory for maximum accuracy. The company claims this should reduce the impact force.
The first prototypes are expected to be delivered to HSARPA by the end of the year. But Tobias Feakin of the Non-lethal Weapons Research Project at the University of Bradford in the UK warns that manufacturers' claims should not be taken at face value. "Without thorough independent testing we cannot ascertain their usefulness, effectiveness or safety," he says.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18725126.300
15 August 2005
NewScientist.com news service
David Hambling
WEAPONS designed to fire "electric bullets" into crowds are being developed for police and border protection agencies in the US.
The Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, the domestic equivalent of the defence agency DARPA, has launched an "innovative less-lethal devices for law enforcement" programme to radically expand the capabilities of electric shock weapons.
Existing stun weapons, such as the Taser, typically fire a pair of darts trailing current-carrying wires to shock the target, with a maximum range of about 7 metres. The HSARPA programme aims to develop wireless weapons that can be used over greater distances in spaces such as "an auditorium, a city street or a sports stadium".
Lynntech of College Station, Texas, is developing a projectile that can be fired from a shotgun or 40-millimetre grenade launcher. Grenade launchers are already used by riot police to fire tear gas and baton rounds. On impact, the device sticks to the target and delivers an 80,000-volt shock for 7 seconds, using a pulsed delivery similar to that used by Tasers. Further shocks can be triggered via remote control.
Brian Hennings, system integration group leader at Lynntech, would not reveal how the projectile sticks to the person, although other weapons designed to adhere often use hooks or barbs. "The biggest problem was making the device non-lethal at minimum range, yet effective at maximum range," he says.
Hennings claims Lynntech has solved this by ensuring that its round's kinetic energy is low enough to meet the safety requirement at close range. As the projectile does not rely on impact with the body to incapacitate the person, it does not need to be fired at very high velocity. The weapon's maximum range is measured in tens of metres, the company says.
Meanwhile, Midé Technology Corporation of Medford, Massachusetts, is proposing the Piezer. Rather than conventional stun-gun circuitry, with batteries linked to transformers and a capacitor, the Piezer contains piezoelectric crystals, which produce a voltage when they are compressed. The Piezer would be fired from a 12-gauge shotgun, stunning the target with an electric shock on impact. Shotguns are already used to fire less-lethal "beanbag" rounds to subdue suspects, but these have short range. Midé claims the Piezer could be effective at 40 to 50 metres.
Using a different principle again is the Inertial Capacitive Incapacitator (ICI) being developed by the Physical Optics Corporation of Torrance, California. It uses a thin-film charge storage device that is charged during manufacture and only discharges when it strikes the target. It can be incorporated into a ring-shaped aerofoil that can be fired from a standard grenade launcher at low velocity, while still maintaining a flat trajectory for maximum accuracy. The company claims this should reduce the impact force.
The first prototypes are expected to be delivered to HSARPA by the end of the year. But Tobias Feakin of the Non-lethal Weapons Research Project at the University of Bradford in the UK warns that manufacturers' claims should not be taken at face value. "Without thorough independent testing we cannot ascertain their usefulness, effectiveness or safety," he says.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18725126.300
NS rlz!! but DOD is better
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Amnesty report: 103 TASER-related deaths in US & Canada 2001-5
15.08.2005 19:16
Amnesty International document 'that there have been 103 TASER-related deaths in the United States and Canada between June 2001 and March 2005. The information comes as Taser International, Inc., (TASR) has tried to divert attention from this staggering figure by focusing on a fictitious number of lives allegedly saved by TASERs.'
Amnesty reports that tasers 'are commonly used to subdue individuals who do not pose a serious and immediate threat to the lives or safety of others. In many reported instances police actions using tasers appear to have breached international standards on the use of force as well as the prohibition against torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.'
'Amnesty International considers that electro-shock weapons are inherently open to abuse as they can inflict severe pain at the push of a button without leaving substantial marks, and can further be used to inflict repeated shocks. While the capacity for abuse exists in whichever mode tasers are deployed, Amnesty International believes that tasers in "touch" stun gun mode are particularly open to abuse, as they are designed for "pain compliance" and tend to be used against individuals who are already in custody or under police control, often with multiple shocks.'
'Amnesty International is further concerned that, despite being widely deployed, there has been no rigorous, independent and impartial study into the use and effects of tasers. Medical opinion has continued to raise concern about potential health risks from tasers, particularly in the case of people suffering from heart disease, or under the influence of certain drugs. Amnesty International's concerns are heightened by a growing number of deaths of individuals struck by police tasers. The organization believes that the taser cannot be ruled out as a possible contributory factor in some deaths. Concerns about the risks associated with tasers increase as they become more widely deployed.'
Read more of the Amnesty International report into tasers here:
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