Introduction to the Taser Gun

"Taser gun" first appeared in science fiction in the early 20th century, and later generations named it "TASER" according to the name of the protagonist and the first letter of the gun name, and some people called it "electroshock gun" according to its principle.

The taser has no bullets, and it subdues the target by firing an electrified "dart". It resembles a regular pistol, with a nitrogen-filled pneumatic magazine. After pulling the trigger, the high-pressure nitrogen in the magazine is quickly released, firing the two electrodes in the chamber. The two electrodes are like two small "darts", they have barbs in front and thin insulated copper wires in the back, after hitting the target, the barbs can hook the suspect's clothes, and the battery in the chamber of the gun releases high voltage through the insulated copper wire, causing the criminal's muscles to spasm and shrink into a ball.

The maximum range of the Taser is 7 meters, and the speed of the "dart" is 60 meters per second. It can be discharged through a 5 cm thick garment and discharged multiple times in 5 seconds, each lasting one millionth of a second.

In order to prevent the police from misusing firearms and firing at will, the taser is also designed with a recording function. When the user pulls the trigger, a number of small scraps of paper pop out from behind the chamber of the gun, with the serial number of the gun printed on it, and investigators can easily find the owner of the gun. In addition, there is a microchip inside the gun that specifically records the date and time of each shot.

Stinger Systems and Taser International, two of the world's largest manufacturers of non-lethal weapons, have pledged to install cameras on their electroconvulsive pistols starting in 2005 in order to record every shot in a timely manner. The purpose of these cameras is primarily to help experts conduct a comprehensive analysis of the use of stun guns, and the footage will be used as evidence in court.

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Founded in 1993 as Al Taser Corporation, the company was renamed as Taser International in 1998. The Taser Company was founded by the Smith brothers, and the original intention of the brothers to create the company was due to an incident. In 1991, a friend of Rick Smith (now CEO of Taser Company) was killed by an irrational passenger while driving, which was a big shock to the Smith brothers. As a precaution, the brothers bought a pistol for their mother to defend themselves, but the kind old man refused to use the deadly weapon, and the Smith brothers had the idea of making a non-lethal weapon. In 1993, by chance, they met Jack Cover, the inventor of the taser gun. At the time, Jack Carvo was developing and promoting an early taser gun, so the three of them hit it off and decided to set up a company to research and produce non-lethal self-defense weapons, and Al Tayder was born.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Taser company, the research was basically based on the technology of the original tasers, but because the original tasers used gunpowder as the firing energy source, the U.S. Administration of Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms banned them from being sold in the civilian market, which was unacceptable to the Taser company and inconsistent with its original intention. In June 1994, Taser was approved for sale on the civilian market after a great deal of effort was lifted, which provided more room for Taser to grow. In 1998, the expanded Taser changed its name to Taser International in order to show its ambition to enter the international market, and at this time Taser products also gained a firm foothold in the police market.

Today, the Taser company continues to grow, and Taser guns are everywhere. As of May 2003, more than 2,500 police stations in the United States had purchased tasers, of which more than 200 had one on staff. After the 9/11 attacks, many airlines began to order tasers in order to maintain cabin safety, and tasers once again showed promising sales prospects. Near Scottdale Airport, a new 30,000-square-foot office building is under construction, the company's stock is rising, and Taser is thriving.

[edit this paragraph] Taser X26 and M26

Taser X26: Old trees, new flowers

The Taser stun gun is nothing new, the first generation of the Taser stun was introduced in 1974, and since then, the Taser stun has been in use for decades, whether on the streets or on the movie screen. However, today's tasers are very different from those of 20 years ago, and they are much more advanced and practical in terms of construction and performance.

The taser stun gun in the modern sense actually started with the M26. In 1998, the company embarked on a research and development project to develop a more powerful high-energy stun gun for the police, ready to subdue those who are temporarily insane and extremely dangerous. In 1999, after several large-scale demonstration events, it was discovered that the M26 was far more advanced in design and function than the old tasers, and was also reliable. In the operation to stop the riots in the national prison in Oregon, the M26 stun gun performed well and played an important role, winning wide praise from prison guards, and since then the M26 has been widely promoted in the United States.

While the Taser M26 (M26 for short) is safe, effective, and easy to use, the gun is bulky and bulky, making it uncomfortable to hang on a duty officer's belt, especially when the police duty belt is already full of tear gas, telescopic batons, spare magazines, handcuffs, and cordless phones. In order to solve this problem, the Taser company began to carry out technical research, and after a period of hard work, the latest X26 stun gun was finally born, which wrote a new chapter in the history of the Taser gun, and the Taser company has begun to mass-produce X26 stun guns.

New principle

The X26 has the same features as the M26, but is 60% smaller and more efficient than the M26.

Reduced by 60% in size without losing power,26 is powered by 8 AA-rated alkaline batteries, which are not only massive, but also cause their grips to be too long. The use of 8 batteries is an unavoidable drawback of the M26, since the M26 needs 26 power to make the target incapacitated.

In order to reduce the size of the taser, the designers began to reconsider the voltage required for the taser. After several months of research, they found a fundamental solution, which was to change the way the taser worked.

Both M26 and X26 cause uncontrollable contraction of muscle tissue through the destructive effect of electrical current (EMD) on the target, causing an uncontrollable contraction of muscle tissue, a phenomenon known as muscle spasm. Thousands of tests have proven that electric current has a significantly destructive effect on the muscles, stopping even the most focused and well-prepared targets. People who have been involved in the testing of the Taser M26 and X26 weapons say that the X26 is more effective than the M26. It is worth noting that the output power of the M26 is 26, while the X26 only has 5. So why is the latter more effective?

M26 (top) vs. X26 (bottom) stun guns

One of the reasons why the X26 requires 26 power is that it generates 18 electrical pulses per second, all of which have to overcome the impedance of clothing and skin. On the contrary, X26 only needs to break through once, and then use a small part of the energy to maintain this open state, and the rest of the energy enters the human body in the form of 19 pulses per second for the first 2 seconds and 15 pulses per second for the last 3 seconds when encountering little resistance. This allows it to produce a better effect with less energy.

Taser used an interesting analogy to explain the difference between the effects of the M26 and the X26, comparing the Advanced Taser M26 to a battering ram that had to use each of its 18 pulses per second to knock down the "gate" in order to break through the "gate" (the resistance of clothing and skin). The X26's forming pulse does not have to knock the "door" down, it brings a "key" that opens the "door" so that it is open for the flowing current.

Taser says the X26 is safe to use. Like the M26, X26 has been extensively tested on animals, with studies showing that the disability is temporary and does not cause permanent damage to the target.

Because the X26 has less power than the M26, it can be powered by a smaller battery, resulting in a smaller weapon profile.

Unlike the M26, which is powered by a regular AA-rated battery, the X26 is powered by a dedicated lithium battery pack. Compared to 8 AA-rated batteries, the X26's lithium battery pack is not only much smaller and lighter, but more importantly, it has a longer lifespan. In addition, the new battery also excludes an important factor in the failure of the taser in practical applications, that is, the user does not install the wrong battery, which is often the case on the M26.

While focusing on reducing the size of the profile, Taser reimagined and redesigned the X26 from an ergonomic and aesthetic point of view. Instead of a lifeless "big bump", the new X26 has a streamlined, futuristic look. The X26 has a very small, short grip, and in order to prevent some users from complaining about the short grip, Taser has designed a spare cartridge holder to lengthen the grip and give the user the ability to quickly reload and shoot again.

The exterior design of the X26 is full of aesthetics, including the stainless steel plate with the X26 logo on the grip, which has been carefully designed, and it can be said that the X26 is the best of all tasers.

Finding the right holster for taser users has always been a difficult problem to solve. Due to the large size of the previous taser stun rifles, officers had to painstakingly figure out how to carry them. The matching holster of the X26 is very small, like a mobile phone case, and it is secured by a plastic clip and belt for police and special weapons.

Since the launch of the M26, users have been asking for some additional features to be added. The X26 adds a variety of additional features, including:

The display panel on the rear of the weapon can provide important information about battery life and other user concerns, such as the temperature inside the gun when the taser is fired.

The X26 is equipped with a countdown display from 5s to 1s to let the user know when the target begins to become incapacitated. In this way, assistance can be provided directly to the police in terms of target control.

X26 even saves buyers the hassle of filling out paperwork. The chip inside the weapon records the warranty time, and this information is displayed at the push of a button. This embedded warranty record is convenient for purchasers.

While the 26 Taser is firing, the laser collimator emits light at the same time, while the X26 allows the user to turn off the laser. The X26 also has 2 light-emitting diodes that can be turned on or off as needed, and each lighting mode can be controlled via a small button on the top of the weapon, with relevant information displayed through the display.