Amnesty International is reporting that 103 deaths are related to the Taser stun gun. Additionally, the human rights group says there is widespread abuse of the weapon that in some cases “constitutes ill-treatment and torture.”

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“Police should not use Taser stun guns to subdue children,” a Miami-Dade grand jury has stated. However, they didn’t propose an outright ban on the weapon. Taser stun guns emit 500 volts of electricity which incapacitates the victim. There are increasing reports of deaths as well as abuse of taser stun guns. In one recent incident a Nashville man was tasered 19 times before dying.

Last year, a Nashville man was tasered by police a total of 19 times! Not surprisingly, he later died. In spite of this, more police officers will receive taser weapons after a scant 4 hours of training. It seems to me that if police officers are going to be equipped with these stun guns, more research on safety needs to be done. In addition, 4 hours of training hardly seems sufficient when people are dying after being hit by the taser gun.

For the first time in Santa Clara County, California, a coroner has determined that a Taser gun factored in a man’s death. Dr. Christopher Happy concluded that “a contributory cause of death was post tasering and pepper-spraying.”

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In a story that ran today in the St. Petersburg Times, a 75 year old man who is blind in one eye was tasered three times by Pinellas County deputies in December 2005. The deputies had been summoned to the Madeira Beach condo after friends of the man had called deputies saying they were concerned about him. He was suffering from loneliness after the holidays and had threatened to shoot himself even though he had no guns in his condo. After the deputies stormed his condo, the 75 year old man was tasered three times. I wonder why these deputies who are supposedly professionally trained could not de-escalate the situation without the use of a Taser. If the police can’t handle these situations without resorting to electrocuting citizens, we’re all in trouble.

The Arizona Republic, using police reports, autopsies, media stories, and Taser International’s own documents, to identify 167 cases of death involving the allegedly non-lethal weapon. Groups such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Amnesty International have questioned the use of the stun gun which emits 50,000 volts of electricity into a human body.

In spite of the Florida Senate’s efforts to stop the practice, it remains legal to taser a child under the age of 16. While it defies logic, a police officer can use a Taser to subdue a child. This extreme form of behavior modification is deplored in a recent article by Alexis Colvard in the Georgia State University School newspaper.

The makers of Taser stun guns have begun an aggressive campaign to recruit civilian buyers for devices now used in the U.S. primarily by about 8,500 law enforcement agencies.
Taser International is focusing on sales to ordinary citizens despite the high-profile deaths of police suspects after being repeatedly shocked by the weapon. The push comes after an onslaught of negative publicity, including at least 37 lawsuits and an Amnesty International report of more than 100 Taser-related deaths in the U.S. and Canada since June 2001.
In Illinois, a new law took effect Jan. 1 requiring stun gun and Taser owners to have a state firearm owners identification card and wait 24 hours before purchasing the weapon. The state’s governor likened Tasers and other stun guns to deadly assault weapons.
“The amount of voltage they exert alone can be lethal,” Governor Rod Blagojevich said. “By treating these weapons just as seriously as we treat firearms, we can make our streets and neighborhoods safer.”
It seems to me that Taser is more interested in profits than public safety. Numerous groups including Amnesty International and The Souther Christian Leadership Conference have demanded an investigation into the safety of these weapons. In spite of the public outcry, Taser just wants to make money.

The 50,000 volt electric shock from a Taser gun contributed to the 2004 death of a Lee County man, according to Associate Medical Examiner Barbara Wolf.
Byron Black, 39, of Fort Myers died in a hospital after deputies used both a stun gun and pepper spray to subdue him. All drug tests were negative according to the autopsy.
More than 100 people have died in the US and Canada since 2001 after being shocked with a Taser, including several in Florida. However, this case is significant since it is the first time that the Taser gun is mentioned as a contributing cause of death in the official autopsy report.

It seems that each day we hear stories of more people dying after being tasered by police. Across the United States and in several other countries, the use of Taser weaponry has come under scrutiny. Questions have been raised about whether Taser shock, up to 50,000 volts of electricity, represents particularly high risks for those on some medications, people with heart problems, and the elderly. Just last week, on Christmas Eve, police tasered a man four times after he began shouting that he was being attacked by bees. He died en route to a hospital when his heart stopped.
This is no small matter. In fact, it’s truly a matter of life and death. While it’s important to support our law enforcement officials, it’s just important they police have proper tools to do their jobs. If Tasers are promoted as non-lethal weapons, why are so many people dying? It’s time for the elected officials to step in and investigate.