I had to elaborate on Tony’s clever post about the fun-in-the-stun state of Arizona. I am shocked at the idea of personal tasers becoming as ubiquitous as Tupperware!
Did you ever carry pepper spray, or Mace as it was known when I was in college? It was pitched to women as a sure-fire way to stop a predator in his tracks. Just spray it in an assailant’s eyes and he’ll stumble around yelling “Ah, my eyes! my eyes!” long enough for his prey to flee.
There is a new protection device available from an Arizona company called Shieldher. It is, I kid you not, a personal taser, the TASER® C2. To soften the outright horror at the thought of our already over-armed streets filling with more weaponry, the Shieldher taser comes in innocuous and feminine colors like metallic pink. I imagine this is meant to discourage macho would-be criminals, who might otherwise be inclined to carry one of these weapons to subdue recalcitrant victims.
Shieldher is aware of the TASER® C2’s potential for misuse:
Our mission is to pacify the fears we face daily as women in an effort to increase the quality of our lives! We have received numerous calls and emails that validate the need for this product and we are committed, at Shieldher, to providing the product in a manner that reinforces it as a personal safety device NOT a weapon.
Undeterred by the overwhelming likelihood of sinister usage, the company touts the benefits of the personal taser:
The TASER® C2 transmits electrical pulses along the wires and into the body of the target, overstimulating the sensory and motor functions of the peripheral nervous system, causing overwhelming incapacitation.
I have a daughter going off to college in the fall and, once I overcame my initial horror at the very notion of personal tasers, I began to play with the idea that perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I rather relish the idea of the grabby cocksure frat boy writhing on the ground much to the delight of his drunken brothers.
But mere moments later I recalled what has been beaten into my brain over the years by gun control advocates. A handgun carried for personal protection is far more likely to be used against its owner than his or her assailant. I feel certain that the same will be true for the personal taser. How long until the stopped becomes the stopper? How long until Shieldher’s newly-empowered female client encounters a pretty pink taser tucked neatly into the back pocket of anyone desiring her overwhelming incapacitation?
Marie, we both live in the Broadmoor Bluffs neighborhood….a veritable cornucopia of stuff to steal for the unwashed masses. Yet we have no crime to speak of. Know why? Half our neighbors are retired military, armed to the teeth. I myself keep a TEC-9 with a laser sight and a Mauser 1891 Argentine sniper rifle on hand, just in case. I usually have other firearms available, as security for fees from my bankruptcy clients. Not to mention my 5 pound Yorkshire/Maltese terrorist attack dog. No security system could rival him as a first responder to any questionable noises.
Sure, a weapon could be used against a woman….unless she has the WILL to fight back. Wouldn’t you rather let your daughter have to opportunity to try? Walk softly, but carry a big friggin’ stick.
These neighborhoods are impenetrable because there are few roads leading in and out, and because the police patrol the main artery/boundary like a hawk. The outskirt remains vulnerable to brutal home invasions.
I’d like to see you try to explain using a sniper rifle for self-defense.
Somebody needs to get Britney Spears to one of these pink taser parties. She could have used this fine product when Dr. Phil showed up unannounced to her room yesterday.
Oprah, can you do it for her, Please? Dr. Phil is getting totally out of control and not using sound judgement! Shield her…Britney… for her own good, and ours, too, I might add.
Another household appliance to keep locked up with the electric carving knife.
Criminals could use this and hide it in plain sight. I think that is why they can be so dangerous. They also can be sneaked onto a plane. I sneak my mace on the plane every time. It is a keychain model. They did finally take it from me because it was falling apart and in danger of leaking all over the place!