Word: stuns
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...time at high-tech trade shows. But at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month, one was particularly shocking. Volunteers by the dozen lined up at the Taser International booth for a chance to get blasted with 50,000 volts from the company's newest stun gun. "It felt like I got hit by lightning 100 times," said Jeremy Friedbaum, 46, of Provo, Utah...
...stun gun, the Advanced Taser M-18L, looks like a pistol. But instead of firing bullets, it shoots tethered darts that hook into the skin or clothes. Victims typically scream in pain and writhe on the floor until the shock subsides--usually within a minute. Heavy-duty tasers are already used by more than 1,000 police departments in the U.S.; United Airlines just bought 1,300. And now Taser, sensing a new market opportunity in post-Sept. 11 anxiety, is launching its first models aimed at ordinary citizens. Prices start...
Granted, Americans are concerned about security these days, but will arming everybody with stun guns really make us safer? The weapons have been linked to more than a dozen deaths and outlawed in seven states. Amnesty International has labeled them "tools of torture" and called for a worldwide ban. In one notoriously brutal incident, New York City cops zapped a teenager several dozen times. The teen filed suit and won a $600,000 settlement...
...Every time there has been a fatality, the victim was either drugged or suffering from pre-existing medical conditions that made it hard to determine a cause of death. At TIME's request, Dr. Patrick Tchou, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, reviewed the few existing scientific studies on stun guns and concluded there is "some potential for causing harm, such as an irregular heartbeat" that could lead to death...
...January and say they will miss the Swiss ski resort's quiet charm. They lament that they often can't tell whether their dinner partner said "four milling daughters" or "40 million dollars" in Manhattan restaurants where the tables are inches apart and the music is set on stun...