Jack Cover, 88, Physicist Who Invented the Taser Stun Gun, Dies - The New York Times The New York Times U.S. |Jack Cover, 88, Physicist Who Invented the Taser Stun Gun, Dies Search Jack Cover, the physicist who invented the Taser stun gun , the police weapon that subdues its targets with jolts of electricity, died Feb. 7 in Mission Viejo, Calif. He was 88 and lived in San Clemente, Calif. The cause was pneumonia brought on by Alzheimer’s disease, said his wife, Ginny. Mr. Cover (pronounced KOH-ver), who worked as an aerospace scientist and was affiliated with NASA’s Apollo moon landing program, came up with the idea for a nonlethal weapon for use in law enforcement in the 1960s as a response to emergencies in the news, including airplane hijackings. The scientific inspiration, Ms. Cover said, was a newspaper article about a man who had inadvertently walked into an electrified fence and survived, though he was temporarily immobilized. “When he read that had happened, he knew an electric current could be used without danger,” Ms. Cover said. Mr.

Cover named his invention as a tribute to another inspiration, the Tom Swift science fiction novels he read as a child, one of which was “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle.” He created an acronym from “Thomas Swift Electric Rifle,” adding the “A,” he explained to The Washington Post in 1976, “because we got tired of answering the phone ‘T.S.E.R.’ ” Advertisement Continue reading the main story The Taser gun shoots electrified darts connected to the gun by insulated wires, and it works by flooding the target’s body with current, causing uncontrollable muscle contractions. Small amounts of current are not inherently dangerous, but the safety threshold is not absolute, especially involving people whose heart circuitry has been made vulnerable by drug use or overexertion, common factors among resisting offenders. Photo Jack Cover with a model of his invention in September 1975. Credit United Press International Law enforcement agencies generally support the Taser as a worthy tool that protects officers from violent offenders and protects the suspects as well. According to Taser International, founded in 1993, which markets products based on Mr.

Cover’s original invention, more than 13,400 law enforcement agencies around the world now use Tasers. More than 375,000 individual officers have them, and so do more than 181,000 private citizens. From 1976 to 1995, Tasers were considered firearms because the darts were propelled by gunpowder. Approached in 1993 by Taser International, Mr. Cover modified the weapon so that it was powered by compressed nitrogen, allowing Tasers to be freely sold to the public. The proliferation of Tasers has made them controversial, as their frequent use has led to fears of their overuse. According to Amnesty International, which seeks to have the use of Tasers by private citizens prohibited and use by the police curtailed pending further study, at least 334 people have died since 2001 after being shot with Tasers by police officers.

In a statement sent by e-mail on Friday, a spokesman for Taser International, Steve Tuttle, said, “We stand by the safety of our devices.” John Higson Cover Jr., known as Jack, was born in New York City on April 6, 1920, and grew up mostly in Chicago, where his father was a professor of economics and his mother earned a master’s degree in mathematics at the University of Chicago. Mr. Cover later earned a B.S. and a Ph.D. in physics there. He was a scientist at North American Aviation (which later became Rockwell International), a National Aeronautics and Space Administration contractor, and he led the company’s team of researchers working on the Apollo project. Mr. Cover’s first two marriages ended in divorce. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Steven, of Newport, Wash.; three daughters, Dede Rhodes, also of Newport, Melissa Beckley of Brush Prairie, Wash., and Cathy Cover of Tucson; two stepchildren, Shawn Kerr of San Clemente and Aron Fisher of Menifee, Calif.; 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Advertisement On the issue of Taser safety, Mr.

Cover was unwavering. “He used to say he saved 100,000 lives,” his wife said. A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: Jack Cover, 88, Physicist Who Invented the Taser Stun Gun. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe The Use of Tasers in Law Enforcement By Timothy Roufa Updated October 12, 2016 In nearly every industry, technology continues to change the way people do their jobs . Whether you're a journalist, a soldier or an accountant , your counterparts from even 50 years ago would have a hard time recognizing the world in which you work today because of amazing advancements in technology. Tasers Usher Brave New World for Law Enforcement Police officers are no different. The tools law enforcement officers carry today are in many ways a far cry from those they used in the not-so-distant past, and few tools have had as big an impact or come with as much controversy as the electronic control device, more commonly known as the Taser.

Electronic Control Devices: Designed to Save Lives The concept of the electronic control device (ECD) is centered on the idea that potentially violent confrontations can be brought to a relatively safe conclusion without the use of deadly force whenever possible. The ECD is not intended to replace a firearm , but provide a safer means of dealing with non-deadly force situations. The best-known and most successful ECD to date is the Taser, manufactured and distributed by Taser International. The Invention of the Taser: Science Fiction Comes to Life Developed in the 1960's by John Cover, the Taser gun is the embodiment of science fiction becoming science fact. It differed from other stun guns and electroshock weapons in that it could be fired and deployed at a distance. The weapon was directly influenced by the popular Tom Swift science fiction stories, namely Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle. The word "Taser" is, in fact, an acronym for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle. Unlike the fictional model, the actual Taser doesn't fire bolts of electricity or shoot through walls without leaving holes.

It does, however, provide police and private citizens with a means of self defense that can mitigate or eliminate the chances of serious injury or death, both to themselves and their assailants. Not Quite Ready For Prime Time The first model, invented directly by Cover, used gun powder to launch electrified darts. Because of this, it was classified as a firearm and did not see widespread use. Police agencies and private citizens looking for non-lethal or less-lethal alternatives to guns were understandably not interested in what they perceived to be just another gun and a potential liability. TASERS Change the Game In the early 1990's, brothers Tom and Rick Smith approached Cover, looking to develop a means to reduce deaths resulting from violent confrontation. The group created the Air Taser, a weapon that fired darts using air rather than gun powder and thus shed it's firearm classification. The new deployment method allowed it to stand on its own as a non-lethal intermediate weapon. A newer, more effective and versatile device was soon developed, and the law enforcement community began to see potential benefits to the device. By 1999, agencies across the country began to purchase the weapons for their officers.

As it began to see widespread use among police agencies, the Taser was quickly heralded as a revolutionary new way protect both officers and suspects. Many hoped that line-of-duty officer deaths and injuries from violent encounters would significantly decrease and police shootings would be reduced. Tasers, Controversy, and Confusion It was not long after, however, that controversy quickly arose as law enforcement officers, the news media and the public at large all seemed to be confused at the role, purpose, and function of this futuristic stun gun. Reports of excessive force, over-zealous cops and even deaths by Taser soon began to make their way into the public forum. Stories of children, vulnerable adults and the elderly being "shocked" by stun guns that shot 50,000 volts through their bodies began to give Taser a bad name. Policies, Standards, and Statistics Save the Day Police departments across the country quickly responded by creating more restrictive policies that governed the use of electronic control devices. State legislatures passed laws requiring training and certification in their use, and Taser International continued to encourage the collection of data on the use of the Taser.

These measures ultimately lead to wider acceptance of the device among law enforcement agencies and have cemented the ECD's place as an indispensable law enforcement tool. How the Taser Works The Taser serves two distinct functions during a use of force encounter. Its primary and preferred use is as an incapacitation device that allows officers to maintain a safe distance while rendering a threat incapable of fighting back. Though the technology is advanced, the concept is simple. When fired, the Taser projects two metal darts, called probes, by electrically charging a cartridge of compressed gas. The probes remain connected to the device through thin copper wires that carry an electric charge to the target. The probes often enter the target's skin, though they can be just as effective if they become lodged in clothing as long as they remain close to the body. Contact is far less important than probe spread. The wider the spread, the more effective the incapacitation. Electro Muscular Incapacitation As the probes travel toward a subject, they spread. When the probes reach their target, they send electric pulses between each other, which disrupt neuron communications between the subjects' muscles and the brain. When this happens, most subjects' muscles become incredibly tense.

The net effect is that the target subjects become incapable of engaging muscle groups for the duration of the charge cycle. This effect is known as neuromuscular incapacitation. As soon as the cycle is ended, however, the effect goes away. ECD Charging Cycles A single cycle is typically timed to last 5 seconds, though an officer can stop it sooner by turning off the the device. Once the probes are in place in the target, the officer can deliver multiple cycles as he deems necessary and appropriate. Major Pain Compliance The second use of the Taser is to gain what is known as pain compliance. If incapacitation is a simple concept, the use of pain compliance is even simpler. In the event an officer finds herself in close quarters with a non-compliant subject, the Taser can be used without a cartridge to deliver a localized electric shock in order to deliver pain. The intended purpose of the pain is to entice the resistant subject to comply with the officer's attempts to control him. Taser-Related Deaths According to the human rights organization Amnesty International , more than 500 people have died in the United States after having been exposed to a Taser or other ECD since 2001.

Amnesty International has recognized that ECD's may not be directly responsible for these deaths, but they've expressed concerns that ECD's may encourage more aggressive uses of force by officers. Few, if any, of the so-called Taser-related deaths have been directly attributed to the effects of the devices themselves, and instead are the result of specific officer and subject factors. Most commonly, deaths have occurred from a condition known as excited delirium, a state most often seen in subjects who are high on certain stimulants and who have been fighting with officers. Other deaths and injuries occurred as a result of where and how the weapons were deployed in relation to the subject, such as on a ledge or on top of a stair case. In such cases, the subjects received injuries from falls as opposed to the effect of the electricity from the weapon. To reduce these instances, ECD manufacturers recommend, and agencies have adopted, policies governing their use. Saving Lives and Preventing Injury Taser International and other ECD manufacturers insist however, that correlation does not necessarily equal causation.

To counter accusations of ECD-related deaths, excessive force and other issues surrounding the use of ECD's, Taser claims that the use of electronic control devices has saved 75,000 lives, reduced injuries to suspects by 60 percent and prevents thousands of injuries and deaths to law enforcement officers each year. Electronic Control Devices: Effective Tools of the Trade Regardless of where you may come down on the debate as to whether electronic control devices are an appropriate use of force, it is hard to deny that they are an effective tool for today's law enforcement officers. Tasers and other similar devices, along with other less lethal and non-lethal weapons, continue to change how officers approach and deal with aggressive and violent subjects. These ingenious devices are but one example of how technology is used in law enforcement, as well as how technology has continued to change the landscape of other careers in criminal justice and criminology . Continue Reading How the Taser Shotgun Shell Works | HowStuffWorks How the Taser Shotgun Shell Works Ethan Miller/ Getty Images There are times when law enforcement officers or military personnel need to subdue a person or group of people without using lethal force. They rely upon a variety of tools and tactics to achieve this goal.

Some of those tools include items like riot shields, batons and tear gas . One less-than-lethal tool is the Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle, or Taser. A Taser is an electronic control device (ECD). The typical Taser device is a handheld gadget that fires a pair of pins tethered to the handset by electrical wires. The handset sends pulses of high voltage electricity to the pins. Anyone shot by a Taser will experience neuromuscular incapacitation (NMI). That means the subject will lose the ability to control his or her muscles -- the electric pulses cause muscles to tense. This usually results in the person falling down and gives law enforcement or military personnel time to restrain him or her. More Tech Gadgets World Record Gadgets Quiz But the typical Taser has a couple of limitations. Because the pins connect to the firing mechanism through wires, the typical Taser has a range limited to the length of the wires -- about 35 feet (10.6 meters). And while a Taser works well for taking down a single subject, it's not easy to reload a fired Taser device -- something that may be necessary in crowd control situations.

With that in mind, Taser introduced a new concept in ECD technology -- the Taser eXtended Range Electronic Projectile (XREP). The XREP looks like a high-tech shotgun shell. That's not by accident -- Taser designed the XREP so that military or law enforcement officers could fire one from a standard 12-gauge shotgun. But instead of firing pellets or a slug, these shells fire a small, self-contained Taser device capable of delivering the same NMI effect as a handheld Taser gun. ­Creating a device small enough to fit into a shotgun shell casing but powerful enough to incapacitate a subject was no easy task. The development team at Taser had to find a way to balance power with size. Not only did they need the device to travel farther than a standard Taser, but also to have the right amount of mass. If it had too little mass, it wouldn't travel far enough. But if it had too much mass, it could become a deadly projectile rather than a non-lethal solution. Let's take a closer look at the XREP shell. 1 What does Taser stand for?

| Dictionary.com Blog October 12, 2010 by: Dictionary.com 99 Comments The electroshock weapon called the Taser , which is typically used by police when trying to control a fleeing suspect, uses an electrical current that causes neuromuscular incapacitation . In other words, if you’re struck by a Taser, your chances of getting away are null. There have been plenty of controversies involving the device and law enforcement. One of the most internet-famous incidents may be the 2007 altercation that led to the phrase “Don’t tase me, bro.”The story of how the Taser got its name, however, is an even wackier yarn. John H. “Jack” Cover, one of the brains behind the invention, named the Taser. (Cover is also a former chief scientist of North American Aerospace’s Apollo Moon Landing Program.) As a boy, Cover loved reading a series of young adult novels about a character named Tom Swift. One of the books is called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle.” Cover named the electroshock weapon after his childhood literary hero. (Do you know what “ laser ” stands for? Here’s the answer .

What about “ LASIK ?” Here you go .) Taser is actually not a word, but an acronym for a fictional weapon: Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle. Cover added the “A” to Tom Swift’s name. The original character did not have a middle name. Victor Appleton is the author of the Tom Swift books. But Appleton himself was also a product of the imagination. He was a house pseudonym invented by the Stratemeyer Syndicate , a book-packaging firm. The actual authors consisted of half a dozen ghost writers . The verb “to tase” was backformed from Taser. 56 Acronyms and Initials All Spelled Out | Mental Floss 56 Acronyms and Initials All Spelled Out Like us on Facebook So that's what it stands for! Don't miss an episode of mental_floss on YouTube— subscribe here! Images and footage provided by Shutterstock . Here's a transcript courtesy of Nerdfighteria Wiki : 1. If you've ever been caught staring at your zipper and wondering what YKK stands for, it's Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha, which roughly translates to Yoshida Company Limited. Also, your fly is down. 2.

TASER stands for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle. 3. The greatest name in the history of clothing and outdoor recreational equipment is Leon Leonwood Bean. 4. 3M is an abbreviation of Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing. 5. M&M's stands for Mars and Murrie's. (That is, Forrest Mars and Bruce Murrie.) Before you think that M&M's are some confectionery American dream, Mars and Murrie were the sons, respectively, of the Mars and Hershey fortunes. And while we're on the subject of chocolate brand named origins, the Three Musketeers originally included three smaller bars: one vanilla, one chocolate, and one strawberry, but when the ingredients became too expensive during World War II, the Three Musketeers became all chocolate. 6. The "Q" in Q-tips stands for Quality. They were originally called "Baby Gays." 7. BMW? Bavarian Motor Works. 8. Smart Car began as a collaboration between Swatch and Mercedes, and sounds better than "Swatch-Mercedes Art Car." 9. ASICS gets it's name from the Latin phrase "Anima Sana In Corpore Sano" - Mispronouncing things is my THING!

- which means "A sound mind in a sound body." Which is pretty high-brow for shoes that look like THIS. 10. ADIDAS is not short for "All Day I Dream About Soccer." The name comes from founder Adi Dassler. 11. TCBY now means "The Country's Best Yogurt," but it once meant "This Can't Be Yogurt," until they were sued by rival frozen yogurt concern "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt." 12. The "A" and "W" of "A&W" are Roy Allen and Frank Wright. 13. Frederick August Otto Schwarz founded his famous toy store with his brothers, but then cut them out of the naming rights. In a related story, the vlogbrothers channel on YouTube shall now be know as "John Green is the greatest. Hank is poopy." 14. The "R" in Toys R Us isn't an initial; it's just bad grammar. However, the Toys R Us mascot, Geoffrey, pictured here, here, and here - God, we love giraffes on this show - used to be known as Doctor G. Raffe. And his liver looks like that! 15.

The "K" in K-mart stands for Kresge, for founder Sebastian S. Kresge. 16. The "J.C." in J.C. Penney stands for James Cash. 17. When you say you're going to the "ATM Machine" to type in your... 18. ..."PIN Number," you are being redundant. Also, you are saying an unnecessary number of words. 19. Michael J. Fox's middle name? ...Andrew. 20. Wander over to your bookshelf and you'll find an alphabet soup of writers' initials. Like, before writing Catcher in the Rye and becoming all reclusive, Jerome David Salinger worked as an entertainer on a cruise ship. 21. Elwyn Brooks White, of Charlotte's Web fame, also the White behind Strunk&White, the famous English-language style guide. 22. The November 22, 1963, death of Clive Staples Lewis was overshadowed by the death of another famous person known by his initials: JFK (John Fitzgerald Kennedy). 23. Then there's Howard Phillips Lovecraft 24. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien 25.

Pelham Grenville Wodehouse 33. Philip Dey Eastman 34. Hunter Stockton Thompson 35. and Philip Kindred Dick. Let's just pause for a moment and thank Phillip K. Dick's parents. Good people. 36. All right, I'll do a couple more: Arthur Charles Clark 37. Edward Estlin Cummings 38. Joanne Rowling didn't have a middle name, so when her publishers wanted another initial, she gave herself a "K" for "Kathleen," which was the name of her favorite grandma. By the way: Harry James Potter, Hermione Jean Granger, and Ginger Bilius Whatshisface. 39. If you want a career in politics, particularly a career in American presidential politics, you're gonna need a good middle initial, like James Knox Polk... 40. or Rutherford Birchard Hayes 41. or Chester Alan Arthur 42. or James Abram Garfield 43. or Warren Gamaliel Harding 44. The "M" in Richard M. Nixon stands for Milhous. Everything's coming up Milhous. 45. And Harry Truman's middle name?

Just "S." 46. Someone worked extremely hard to make USA PATRIOT Act an acronym. It stands for "Uniting & Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept & Obstruct Terrorism." 47. The ZIP in ZIP Code is Zone Improvement Plan. 48. GEICO was originally short for "Government Employees Insurance Company." 49. The speaker company JBL is named for founder James Bullough Lansing. Bullow? Bulluff? BullOG? Beuloff? I'm sure one of his descendants is going to let me know. 50. CVS originally stood for Consumer Value Stores; over time, it just became CVS. 51. H&M is Hennes & Mauritz. 52. The shipping company DHL is named for founders Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn. 53. The abrasive cleaning pad SOS means "Save Our Saucepans." 54. SCUBA means Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. 55. LASER means Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. 56.

And, lastly, DFTBA, of course, stands for "Darling, Fetch the Battle Axe." And "Don't Forget to Be Awesome." Taser or Tazer? Tazing or Tasering? Taser or Tazer? Tazing or Tasering? By Maeve Maddox It wasn’t until I wanted to write about an incident in which a policeman applied a Taser to a ten-year-old girl that I needed to know if I should write tazed, tased, tazered, or tasered. In trying to find out, I’ve discovered that the word spelled Taser is a registered trademark. It is an acroynm for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle.” Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle, or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land is a young adult novel written by Victor Appleton. It is Volume 10 in the original Tom Swift novel series published by Grosset & Dunlap. Jack Cover, the NASA researcher who began developing the Taser in 1969 was a Tom Swift fan so he named his invention for Tom’s fictional rifle.

Since I now know the origin of the word and that it is trademarked, I feel I should opt for the capitalized form with an s:The policeman used a Taser. The guard Tasered the man with the gun. On the other hand, I don’t feel comfortable capitalizing verbs. I suppose there’s no reason we can’t adopt the non-trademarked “z” word and use it without a capital T:The policeman tazered the fugitve. We could even choose the shorter verb form to taze, which echoes existing words such as haze and daze:The policeman tazed his assailant just in time. I’m leaning towards Taser for the noun and taze, tazed, tazing for the verb. What do the authorities have to say? The AP Stylebook is no help with the verb. All it has under Taser is that the word is a capitalized acronym. Likewise Merriam-Webster has an entry for the noun Taser, but nothing to help with the verb form. The OED has examples with both Tasered and tasered: 1976 N.Y. Times Mag. 4 Jan.

31/3 When an attacker has been ‘Tasered’, the muscles in his body involuntarily contract; he is virtually helpless and may experience pain. 1993 B. CROSS It’s not about Salary 325 High on PCP and breakdancing in the street, [they] tasered him four times and he died. 2002 Edmonton (Alberta) Sun (Nexis) 21 July 21 City cops couldn’t say last night if tasering a woman allegedly resisting arrest yesterday was justified, but a couple who saw the incident believe excessive force was used. 2007 Metro (London ed.) 19 Sept. 11/2 A student was Tasered after asking too many questions at a university forum with US Senator John Kerry.

As these headlines show, I’m not the only one confused as to which verb form to use: 10-year-old is tasered by officer Unruly Student Tazed at South Paulding, Georgia, High School Pastor tazered by Arizona DPS Woman Tasered in front of her children for “obstructing traffic” Subscribe to Receive our Articles and Exercises via Email You will improve your English in only 5 minutes per day, guaranteed! Subscribers get access to our exercise archives, writing courses, writing jobs and much more! You'll also get three bonus ebooks completely free! 13 Responses to “Taser or Tazer? Tazing or Tasering?” Randell on December 01, 2009 2:44 am “… Taser for the noun and taze, tazed, tazing for the verb”, sounds just right. Something similar would be the use of Google for the noun and google, googled, googling, for the verb.

Steve ashley on December 01, 2009 1:42 pm I am a retired police officer, a police trainer and risk manager, and a TASER Senior Master Instructor, which means that – although not a regular employee of TASER International – I am one of 25 contract trainers that serve as curriculum consultants and research assistants for TASER International, as well as regularly teaching classes of TASER Instructors and Master Instructors. Your question is a valid one, and as you discovered in your research, there is little consistency in the published literature, especially on the Internet. My answers to your questions are not so much based in linguistic technicalities as they are rooted in the language that informed law enforcement trainers and administrators use. However, admittedly, many of those individuals fumble with this one as well. You are correct in that the word TASER is an acronym for Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle. The term TASER is a registered trademark, and is therefore used in all of the company’s literature – as well as its training materials – in its fully capitalized form.

We do not use the term “tase” as in, “…the suspect was tased…” Although this may seem like a verb form of the word, within the informed professional community, it is seen as sloppy usage (rather like referring to a pistol magazine as a “clip”, or a semi-automatic pistol as an “automatic”), and a bastardization of the trademark. Additionally, while TASER International is far and away the major player in the field of electronic control devices – especially hand held ECDs – there are other manufacturers out there. If someone is exposed to one of those other products, it would not be proper to refer to them as being “tased”. Unfortunately, the colloquial forms of the word TASER are seemingly taking hold, so it might be a losing battle. However, as with many things in the technology field, those that actually know the correct terminology will probably always look askance at those that use words like tase, taze, and tazer. At least one can hope. By the way, I enjoy your site very much, and read it on a frequent basis. Thanks for the service that you provide.

Brendan on December 01, 2009 2:13 pm I avoid using verb forms of Taser. Try: “Police stunned him with a Taser.” Or “He was shocked by a stun gun. Unless you know it was a Taser brand stun gun, don’t even say Taser. Tony Hearn on December 01, 2009 5:34 pm Noun: taser Open-and-shut case. Keep life simple. Advocatus Diaboli on November 15, 2010 4:02 pm I agree with Tony Hearn. The only logical verb form to describe using a Taser on something is to “taser” it. After all, when you use a hammer on something do you ham it, or do you hammer it? Admiral on September 21, 2011 7:55 pm I would think this to be like many other trademarked names. If you are referring to the specific product, use the specific name (TASER acronym).

If you are referring to the generic form describing the type of weapon but not necessarily the name brand, I would think the lower case “tazer” would apply. If we accept this rule then it would naturally follow that most of the time the verb form of this law enforcement technology would refer to the generic sense such as “tazed” or “tazered” and not the specific brand. If the specific brand is not verifiable then the safest form is the generic for both the noun and the verb. Mary Pat Withem on March 18, 2014 12:40 am Actually if we use something frequently enough, it loses its trademark and this is a huge disadvantage to the company. This is just like some people say pass me a klenex. It is a household standard to say klenex and so that loses its “special” place within the trademark world. That’s what I’ve been told?

“If a court rules that a trademark has become “generic” through common use (such that the mark no longer performs the essential trademark function and the average consumer no longer considers that exclusive rights attach to it), the corresponding registration may also be ruled invalid.” (wiki) So therefore I don’t think using taser is really a must avoid issue because so many people use tasered or taser etc. It’s becoming standardized. Frank Dana on August 20, 2014 1:30 am I kind of like “tase”, “tased”, “tasing”, if only because of the symmetry with “lase”, the verb meaning “to emit coherent light” (as would a laser, and back-formed therefrom). That one was coined back in the 1960s, a few years after “laser” itself, but popularized to current generations via a line spoken by Val Kilmer in the film “Real Genius”. Considering laser is also an acronym (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), the similarities with “Taser” run deep, so that additional symmetry just seems very much as it should be.

Richard Covey on August 25, 2014 9:47 pm Well, the thing with TASERs is that there was no single word for zapping someone with an electrical device designed to stun before TASERs were invented. The word sprung up afterwards, through the TASER itself and not a generic device. I therefore think modifying the word into a verb (whether taser or tazer) is perfectly fine. Just saying someone got tased doesn’t say anything negative about the trademark itself. I prefer the “s” over the “z” myself but only for the paltry reason of personal aesthetics where the “s” sounds better. The “z” comes off as a little too campy sci-fi for me- but then again the name for the TASER is from sci-fi so maybe it fits perfectly. I don’t mind reading it in either format. We don’t say that we kleenexed or tupperwared things, there were words for blowing your nose and sealing things away before those trademarks became common day items. The language should be allowed to evolve over the stridency of trademarks, ahah, but respect should be given to those trademarks when referring to generic items, sure.

If you really want to have a clean conscious, you’ll have to make it more word heavy, and say something like “and he was stunned by a TASER” or “and he was shocked by an electrical control device.” Unfortunately the generic public isn’t going to know what an electrical control device is, but they all know what to be tasered means immediately. I think therefore, since language does evolve, and since we are writers, we should play upon the public’s understanding and expectations of the language as well, which to me gives taser and tazered and so on all the justification and validation it needs. Wikipedia: “The New Oxford American Dictionary listed “tase/taze” as one of the words of the year for 2007, popularized by the widespread use of the phrase “Don’t tase me, bro!” Meyer registered the phrase as a trademark in September 2007″ But as for tase and taze, both work just fine in regards to the public’s understanding. As for the dictionary, well, they put twerk in the dictionary… maybe we shouldn’t wait for them to come to a decision and use what we prefer ahaha.

Ken Davidson on March 28, 2015 9:47 pm Thank you Richard Covey, I could not agree more. For me there is a difference between the headline and the story. I cannot put Officer Used a Stun Gun on a Suspect and He Died. I can use the headline Suspect Dies in Police Custody After Being Tazed. Do the grammar nazi’s get upset about that? I am sure I will get some comments. Ryan on February 04, 2016 3:52 am If it is a TASER brand product you would say “A TASER was used to….” If it was a different brand or an unknown brand it would be an “Electronic Control Device was used…” because TASER is a brand name and ECD (electronic control device) is the type of less lethal weapon that was used. There is no such thing as a Tazer so therefore tazered or tazering is not correct. Whether you agree with me or not, the reason I voice my opinion is because I am a law enforcement officer trained in many specialty subjects as well as a highly experienced EMT and emergency department/room employee.

I feel this is a topic I am knowledgeable in. Ryan on February 04, 2016 3:58 am In addition, stun guns and “stunning”and/or “stunned” is an entirely different object and action. Also, I have taken advanced level “Trial Preparation, Presentation and Testimony” classes. Part of these classes is focused on the word usage in reports and testimony. PeeJay on August 21, 2016 6:50 pm Minor typo in your taser article: “Taser is a registered trademark. It is an acroynm for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle.” “acroynm” should be acronym . . . Electric Current of a Stun Gun - The Physics Factbook Electric Current of a Stun Gun What Is a Stun Gun? J&L Self Defense Products. 2003. "A stun gun is a legal electrical self-defense device that puts out a high voltage and low amperage shock. To put things into perspective, one amp will kill a person. Our stun guns deliver 3 to 4 milliamps … However, most stun guns on the market are only 1 to 2 milliamps.

3–4 mA D. Davis; K. Branch; N.B. Egen; F.E. Russell; K. Gerrish; P.S. Auerbach. The effect of an electrical current on snake venom toxicity . Journal of Wilderness Medicine. Vol. 3, No. 1: 48–53. "An electric current (twenty 11 A 7000 V spikes s-1 for 90 s) from a commercial stun gun was applied directly to a rattlesnake venom solution in an electrolysis cell with 2 electrode compartments and a central compartment, in order to evaluate the effect that high voltage electroshock might have on the lethality of the venom." 11 A Stun Gun Information/How Does a Stun Gun Work . Lee Enterprises. 2004. "Since it has a fairly high voltage, the charge will pass through heavy clothing and skin. But at around 3 milliamps, the charge is not intense enough to damage the attacker's body unless it is applied for extended periods of time." 3 mA A stun gun, which is also known as a taser (Thomas A Swift's Electronic Rifle), is used as a self-defense weapon.

Stun guns do not do any personal damage; however, they can leave a person dazed for as long as fifteen minutes. The only variation of the taser is they shoot barbs, which carry an electric current through the connected wire, which can travel considerable distances. Stun guns function as a high voltage, and low current mechanism. This is what causes the sudden "stun."Electric current is the flow of charged particles. Our bodies' nervous system runs on electric charges and, consequently, when that extra amount of current is added to the body, although substantially low, it still causes the stun. The high voltage allows the current to enter the body, which also cause convulsions and spasms. This is caused by the high voltage, low current charge. A charge to a person for only a little over three seconds can cause him/her to stay on the ground for up to fifteen minutes. Stun guns prove to be very a very effective weapon to use, as they are widely used by police officers, army personnel, and people across the world (certain restrictions apply for US states). Also, the fact that they do not kill people contributes to the safety of the weapon if accidents occur.

If stun guns were used universally instead of batons in the police force, effectiveness would remain, but the brutality factor would drastically drop. The variation of stun guns offered at this time is also very remarkable, as they come in the form of cell phone replicas, as well as stun batons. Stun guns are no doubt a well regarded self defense item. Luke Workoff -- 2004

Question: What is Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle better known as?
Answer: Taser