The idea was to create a Taser system that could be effective in the intermediate range (30-100 feet) where a regular handheld Taser could not reach, but from which thrown projectiles could still be a viable threat against someone.
Ultimately, the project was a commercial failure, primarily because of the cost of the cartridges. At something like $125 each, they were nearly five times the cost of regular Taser ammunition.
I remember these. Sucks that they didn’t really work out commercially.
https://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-03/shock-bullet/
Yeah, those totally would have saved innocent lives?
They likely would have replaced bean bag rounds in their usage as a extended distance single target less lethal ammunition. Bean bag rounds can be very dangerous if they impact someone’s head. These lighter weight taser rounds would be less likely (in theory) to cause unintentional harm.
I think a projectile fired from a shotgun, delivering 500 volts directly to someone’s brain for 20 seconds, would also inflict severe brain injury.
Cops salivating at that idea
Idk, given the reports of people getting deliberately shot in the face with bean bag rounds, I feel like the prongs on this could easily be worse in some circumstances.
It seems these projectiles weighed ~3.5 grams and bean bag rounds weigh ~40 grams. Bean bags travel ~280 feet per second, these would go ~300 fps.
If
E=M*VKE=½MV² we can assume the total kinetic energy must be much lower in the XREP taser rounds. Granted it does have those prongs which could in theory puncture an artery or damage your eye.My main concern with the bean bag is TBIs (Traumatic Brain Injuries).
The prongs are my largest concern with taser rounds. As I understand it, there are two types of prongs. A straight, possibly rifled, prong that penetrates, and can be pulled out relatively easily once the subject is subdued. I’m aware that in extremely few cases, the subject managed to pull these prongs out of themselves, but I don’t place any real stock in those extremely rare incidences since with the “fishhook prongs,” roughly a similar percentage of people still ripped these things out, and just kept going.
The second type of prong is rifled almost always, giving it about 5 feet or 1.5 meters more air range than the unrifled prongs, but these prongs have small aerodynamic protrusions that act as fishhooks making it so that you are required to rip out a not insignificant part of your flesh where they hit you to pull them out. Even with medical treatment, these are so devastating to the surrounding tissue that most of it will be removed with the prong. These are literally just made to create more damage than necessary.
They are undoubtedly “safer” than bean bags, and “rubber bullets,” I’m just curious why anyone outside of an authoritarian police state would allow any of these weapons to be deployed since the best fatality rate is still 10% across the board.
I don’t believe these saw much use. They’re discontinued now I believe. In part due to their expense.
I’m not sure if your 10% is just an estimate or if you’ve found a study on these. But one driving perspective for less lethal devices is for them to be used instead of lethal force. There’s also the inverse where they are viewed as a tool that enables a level of force that may be engaged for less dire scenarios. The latter may be used to justify force that wouldn’t have otherwise been applied, but the former seeks to reduce harm when a degree of it is deemed necessary.
That’s uh, not the formula for kinetic energy but yes I agree these seem like a good medium range alternative hahah
I mean assuming a civilized nation where law enforcement is not free to murder for fun. Here in the States we just use Glocks like multi tools
Fixed it, I had spliced together the formulas for momentum an KE in my head.
Bean bags can also stop the heart. They are better then shooting someone but they can seriously injure.
That’s fair
I read some can cause a lot of damage even if they just start to fly wrong
There was a big shift away from the term non-lethal to less-lethal or less than lethal because of this. Most every form of less-lethal force be it flash bangs, tasers, or even pepper spray can result in injury death if miss used.
Flashbangs can start fires, tasers can cause cardiac issues, and pepper spray can cause someone in a precarious position to hurt themselves (say stumble off a nearby ledge).
I remember reading about cops throwing a flash bang into a toddlers playpen and burning them.
I seem to remember a concern at the time being that they fired out of a traditional shotgun. In the heat of the moment there was concern that the wrong round would be used.
I believe beanbag shotguns tend to be blue or green handled/themed, and taser was aiming for dedicated yellow themed shotguns to hopefully prevent the inevitable “I thought I was using my taser shotgun when I put a real slug in their face”.