Andrew,

I am against the use tasers by anyone including police. Zap someone with a pacemaker or defibrillator and see them die. Misuse is rampant.

My 2 cents.

Check local laws. Not everyone allows them. I just saw an add for a ring(that goes on your finger) that actually shoots pepper spray if you press a small button on the side for at least 3 seconds. I am buying my wife on....no more sifting through the purse while your attacker is beating you sensless with a BB Bat.

Andrew - You would probably stand a greater chance of having to fight off a bear I bet :)

I was going to comment but David has me laughing so hard I can not formulate thought right now.  I love it when someone brings up the rampant misuse of tasers.  Its akin to all of the Realtors out there inflating prices to raise their commission, thats rampant too.  My two cents.

 

You are correct Andrew - there are many more law abiding citizens with guns than there are bad guys with guns.  I have not hard statistics but I was a cop for 17 years and my instinct tells me that Tasers have saved more lives than we will ever know.  I've been shot with a Taser twice and lived to talk about it.  After commenting on your blog I decided to post a video on my blog of myself getting tasered.  Still makes me squirm thinking about it, either way their use is not rampant.  In fact, I'm proud to say my department had tasers 3 years before they were used for the first time.  Thats counts for literally thousands and thousands of contacts with citizens with no deployment.

Hello Andrew,  I recently wrote a blog about Realtors carrying concealed firearms and I mentioned carrying pepper spray or a taser as an alternative.  It is interesting to see the difference in the responses that I got, compared to yours.  Check it out if you have time at:               http://activerain.com/blogsview/352014/Real-Estate-Agents-Are

Personally, I carry pepper spray in my purse and would consider a taser.  I prefer to protect myself by using non-lethal means.  Even though there is a chance that being shot with a taser could be lethal, I still prefer it to a handgun.

 

I've never used a taser but I can see a need for them.  I cary a gun in my brief case when I meet someone I don't know in an empty house.

Tasers, HMMMMM!!!

If I am threatened I am usually a fan of a more permanent form of disablement.

Tasers, HMMMMM!!!

If I am threatened I am usually a fan of a more permanent form of disablement.

Jordan- Do you mean 15 years old?  A 15 year old has no business with a taser.  At 15 you are not even old enough to be hired by a fire department or police department. 

If, as I assume you are involved in an explorer program of some sort and you are trying to obtain a weapon let me caution you, as a former police chief and officer of nearly 20 years, I removed more 15, 16 and 17 year olds from the departments public education programs for exactly this type of behavior.  I'll give you a few examples.  One ordered a police badge from one of our suppliers and was immediately caught when the bill showed up on my desk.  Another identified himself as a police officer to some folks in a restaurant, and yet another was caught attempting to obtain a handgun claiming he was a member of the police department.  All were removed from the program they were in and had a huge black mark against them already as far as ever being hired.

Being allowed to observe and participate in public education programs with the PD and FD should be a good experience for you to learn and decide on a career path.  Use it to its fullest potential but don't get ahead of yourself and so something that prohibits you from being a hirable candidate when you are 18 or 21 depending on your state.