Personally, I'm leery of tasers myself. Actually, I hate them with a burning passion after the nice sales people across the street explained them to me.
First off, two models. LE (M18 and M18L) and a "civilian" model, the Taser C2. (The clerk didn't like when I joking pointed out that police are civilians too, which was even more amusing.) I didn't ask too much about the LE version, as my sister was interested in buying one of the cute looking C2 models. The civvie model is light, curvey and non-threatening looking. It's called the Taser C2, and is visually packaged to express the impression of "consumer electronics" instead of weapon. But hey, that's just aesthetics. Nothing wrong with that. So let's move on to why it's a bad product that is dangerous to the user.
It fires a single cartridge costing $25, which contains compressed air, wire, barbs, etc. And allegedly some kind of micro-ID thingies that can be used to identify a perp. There is no OEM training cartridge for the civvie model. Which means you CANNOT safely test the device unless you're handy with electricity and know how to safely ground something conductive. There is no way to turn off the juice, so it is risky to test the Taser on anything that is conductive and improperly grounded. Besides it being insane to never being able to safely test and practice with an allegedly life saving device, why is this worrisome?
If you did not read the manual, did not test the device and need to use it in self-defense, you will quickly learn that you have been hauling around a $350 ish paperweight. See, the device needs activation.
I swear to the gods, I am not lying. A weapon that needs permission before usage. I find the concept horrifying, personally, but I guess certain folks would love it. Here is the proof:
https://activate.taser.com/c2activation/ You must pay an additional fee for a private company to conduct a background check. If you do not pass, the Taser C2 is permanently disabled. If the person processing the request makes a mistake or the necessary IT equipment malfunctions, you are out $350 for the device and another $10 for the background check. Since it is a private company, there is no oversight or accountability laws to govern its background checks. More worrisome, any device that can be remotely turned on can be remotely turned off. And since you can't safely test it, you have no guarantee that your unit will function as it is needed to function. If you somehow can safely test the unit, it is $25 per functionality check. There's plenty of potential possibilities for someone to over-the-air disable your Taser: the company don't like you, the police don't like you, accident on some computer somewhere, someone making a clerical mistake, hackers, Brady Bunch passes a law restricting taser usage by non-police, whatever.
Why is this? So if a felon buys a Taser, he can't use it. Yes, that is the company's exclusive justification for such a radical product flaw. Because no felon would lie and give false information to Taser's activation folks, or pay someone else to activate the Taser. Felons are known for their scrupulous honesty and for never lying to suit their own needs.
Well, let's move onto usage. The design is only practical if you have one attacker. It converts to a "stun gun" if the cartridge is expended (and the unit is not disabled), which is a nice thought and only slightly less useful than having a heavy rock. It allows you to zap a person up to 50 times. But the official usage doctrine for the C2 is to press the button (the C2 model gives shocks in 30 second durations), drop the unit, run to a safe location and call 911. So following that logic... the manufacturer specifically suggests the unit is near useless against more than one aggressor. Unless you carry multiple Tasers, of course.
A $2 knife is starting to sound like a more durable, better designed and significantly safer weapon. I'll buy my sister a full auto MP5 and pay an insane retainer to the sharkyist defense lawyer in the region before I could in good conscience pick up a Taser for her. Thankfully, the tasteful PR DVD included in the product packet was enough to convince her that they are a really bad idea. It's a dangerous, poorly designed, and hideously expensive weapon with limited functionality. She's leaning towards a Keltec or a XD compact.
