WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.940 In 1976, the US government officially classified 00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:08.740 a small handheld plastic device as, well, a literal 00:00:08.740 --> 00:00:11.560 firearm. Right, a firearm, which is pretty wild 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:13.359 when you think about it. Yeah. I mean, if you 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:15.099 wanted to carry it, you had to jump through the 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:17.500 exact same legal hoops as if you were buying 00:00:17.500 --> 00:00:20.620 a traditional handgun. And why? Because this 00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:23.339 entirely new invention, this very first model 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:27.300 of the Taser, actually used gunpowder to shoot 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:29.940 its electrified darts. It literally used an explosive 00:00:29.940 --> 00:00:32.859 propellant. Exactly. Welcome to the deep dive. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:34.579 If you're joining us today, you're the kind of 00:00:34.579 --> 00:00:36.840 person who wants to cut through the noise, skip 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:39.280 the surface level chatter, and, you know, just 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:41.380 get straight to the fascinating core of a complex 00:00:41.380 --> 00:00:44.719 topic. You are the learner. And this topic is 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:47.619 a perfect example of how complex things get when 00:00:47.619 --> 00:00:49.659 you have this collision between technology and 00:00:49.659 --> 00:00:52.280 human biology. Completely. So our mission today 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:54.979 is to unpack the reality of electroshock weapons. 00:00:55.380 --> 00:00:57.100 We're going to explore not just what these devices 00:00:57.100 --> 00:00:59.679 are, but the wild sci -fi history of how they 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:02.000 were invented, the sheer variety of futuristic 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:05.680 prototypes out there, and the really intense 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:08.200 global, legal, and medical debate surrounding 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:10.939 their use. Yeah, it's an incredibly layered... 00:01:11.539 --> 00:01:14.659 I mean, these devices, they feel ubiquitous now, 00:01:14.819 --> 00:01:15.980 right? Oh yeah, totally. You see them everywhere. 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:18.000 Exactly. We see them on the bills of law enforcement 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:19.920 all the time. They show up in pop culture constantly. 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:22.659 Yeah. But the actual science of how they interact 00:01:22.659 --> 00:01:25.400 with the human nervous system and the really 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:29.140 fragmented, often totally contradictory legal 00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:33.299 patchwork governing them globally, it's far more 00:01:33.299 --> 00:01:36.269 chaotic than you might think. So before we can 00:01:36.269 --> 00:01:38.430 even get into the controversies or the laws, 00:01:38.450 --> 00:01:41.670 we have to establish a crucial, really fundamental 00:01:41.670 --> 00:01:44.829 distinction from our source material today. There 00:01:44.829 --> 00:01:47.930 are two primary types of electroshock weapons, 00:01:47.950 --> 00:01:50.310 and people almost always get this wrong. They 00:01:50.310 --> 00:01:52.390 do. They use the terms interchangeably all the 00:01:52.390 --> 00:01:55.090 time. Right. But mechanically, they're totally 00:01:55.090 --> 00:01:57.030 different animals. The distinction between the 00:01:57.030 --> 00:01:59.709 sensory and motor systems is really the key to 00:01:59.709 --> 00:02:01.900 everything here. So... The two big categories 00:02:01.900 --> 00:02:03.879 we're talking about are stun guns and tasers. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:06.000 Like you said, people use the words as synonyms, 00:02:06.219 --> 00:02:08.520 but they operate on completely different biological 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:10.659 principles. Okay, let's break down the how and 00:02:10.659 --> 00:02:12.710 the why. Let's start with the stun gun. Right. 00:02:12.810 --> 00:02:15.289 So a stun gun is a direct contact weapon. You 00:02:15.289 --> 00:02:17.229 have to physically press it against a person. 00:02:17.370 --> 00:02:20.430 Like right up against them. Exactly. And it relies 00:02:20.430 --> 00:02:22.669 almost entirely on pain compliance, which means 00:02:22.669 --> 00:02:25.669 it targets the sensory nervous system. It delivers 00:02:25.669 --> 00:02:29.789 a high voltage shock that is just excruciatingly 00:02:29.789 --> 00:02:31.990 painful, basically overloading those sensory 00:02:31.990 --> 00:02:34.550 nerves to make the person back away. But it doesn't 00:02:34.550 --> 00:02:37.030 actually freeze them up, right? Right. No, it 00:02:37.030 --> 00:02:39.949 doesn't necessarily paralyze the muscles instantly 00:02:39.949 --> 00:02:42.699 well. unless you hold it against them for a really 00:02:42.699 --> 00:02:45.479 extended period. But mainly, it just hurts a 00:02:45.479 --> 00:02:47.860 lot. OK. And then you have the Taser, which is 00:02:47.860 --> 00:02:50.159 a completely different approach to stopping a 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:53.199 human body. Yeah. A Taser is designed as a long 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:56.340 -range weapon. It fires two barbed darts that 00:02:56.340 --> 00:02:59.379 trail thin, insulated wires back to the handset. 00:02:59.620 --> 00:03:02.340 So it's not just surface pain. No, not at all. 00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:04.460 Instead of just causing surface pain via the 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:06.919 sensory system, a taser is designed to disrupt 00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:10.319 voluntary muscular control. It basically bypasses 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:12.219 the sensory nerves and goes straight after the 00:03:12.219 --> 00:03:14.280 motor nervous system. Causing them to just drop. 00:03:14.659 --> 00:03:17.419 Exactly. It causes what is technically called 00:03:17.419 --> 00:03:20.539 neuromuscular incapacitation. Now, to be fair, 00:03:20.780 --> 00:03:23.080 some modern tasers do blur this line a little 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:25.300 bit. Oh, so. Well, they have this thing called 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:28.560 a drive -stun mode. It allows an operator to 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.139 press the device directly against a target without 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:33.740 firing the darts. So essentially using it like 00:03:33.740 --> 00:03:36.960 a traditional stun gun. But the primary intended 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:40.159 function is remote motor override. OK, I've been 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:42.099 thinking about a way to visualize this for you, 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:46.680 the listener. A stun gun is like a blaring, incredibly 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:49.500 loud car alarm going off right next to your ear. 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:52.099 I like that. Right. It's sensory. It's painful. 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:54.000 And your immediate instinct is just to get away 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.900 from it as fast as possible. But a taser is like 00:03:56.900 --> 00:03:59.659 someone else remotely hacking into your car's 00:03:59.659 --> 00:04:02.340 computer system and forcibly grabbing the steering 00:04:02.340 --> 00:04:04.879 wheel. That is a great analogy. It overrides. 00:04:04.780 --> 00:04:07.099 your motor control completely. You aren't driving 00:04:07.099 --> 00:04:09.879 the car anymore. That analogy perfectly captures 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:12.539 the biological mechanism. I mean, the taser's 00:04:12.539 --> 00:04:14.680 electrical pulses essentially mimic the electrical 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:16.860 signals your brain uses to communicate with your 00:04:16.860 --> 00:04:19.699 muscles, but at a volume that completely drowns 00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:22.120 out your brain's commands. So your muscles just 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:24.639 fire on their own. Right. They contract involuntarily 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:26.959 and you drop. It's wild. And how we actually 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:29.939 got to that hacking technology is a totally wild 00:04:29.939 --> 00:04:33.920 timeline. We have to go back to 1935. Way earlier 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:36.720 than most people think. Yeah. A man named Cyril 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:40.540 Diaz in Cuba invents what is essentially a police 00:04:40.540 --> 00:04:43.279 electroshock glove. Which Pete's a rather vivid 00:04:43.550 --> 00:04:45.850 Almost comic book picture of law enforcement, 00:04:46.050 --> 00:04:48.829 honestly. It's a literal shock glove. And it 00:04:48.829 --> 00:04:52.550 delivered 1 ,500 volts of electricity. Now, when 00:04:52.550 --> 00:04:55.470 you first hear 1 ,500 volts, it sounds massive. 00:04:55.589 --> 00:04:57.269 It does sound like a lot. But if you look at 00:04:57.269 --> 00:05:00.069 the specs of modern devices, 1 ,500 volts is 00:05:00.069 --> 00:05:02.230 barely a drop in the bucket. It is only about 00:05:02.230 --> 00:05:05.370 3 % of the voltage output of a modern taser. 00:05:05.509 --> 00:05:08.050 Yeah, that 1935 glove was really just a very 00:05:08.050 --> 00:05:10.589 early proof of concept. Yeah. The real leap in 00:05:10.589 --> 00:05:12.350 the underlying physics and delivery happened 00:05:12.350 --> 00:05:15.709 later. in 1969. Right, with Jack Cover. Exactly. 00:05:15.910 --> 00:05:17.569 Jack Cover, who is actually a researcher for 00:05:17.569 --> 00:05:20.430 NASA, he began developing the device that would 00:05:20.430 --> 00:05:22.709 eventually become the TASER. And I love the origin 00:05:22.709 --> 00:05:25.430 of the name, too. TASER isn't just some slick, 00:05:25.930 --> 00:05:28.170 focus -grouped tech word from a marketing department. 00:05:28.550 --> 00:05:30.569 No, it's actually an acronym. Right. It stands 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:33.529 for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle, named after 00:05:33.529 --> 00:05:36.069 a sci -fi adventure hero from Jack Cover's childhood 00:05:36.069 --> 00:05:38.910 reading. It is a really great piece of trivia. 00:05:39.689 --> 00:05:41.610 But, you know, Cover's early prototypes had a 00:05:41.689 --> 00:05:44.670 pretty significant functional hurdle. The gunpowder. 00:05:44.829 --> 00:05:47.089 Yes. As you mentioned at the very start of our 00:05:47.089 --> 00:05:50.449 deep dive, the very first Taser model, which 00:05:50.449 --> 00:05:53.449 was known as the Public Defender, it used gunpowder 00:05:53.449 --> 00:05:56.250 as the propellant to launch the darts out of 00:05:56.250 --> 00:05:58.509 the cartridge. Which naturally prompted the Bureau 00:05:58.509 --> 00:06:01.870 of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to step in because 00:06:01.870 --> 00:06:05.529 of course they did. Right. In 1976, they classified 00:06:05.529 --> 00:06:07.930 this brand new electrical device as a firearm. 00:06:08.170 --> 00:06:11.550 I mean, if it uses an explosive to fire a projectile, 00:06:11.870 --> 00:06:13.730 the law treats it like a gun. And that basically 00:06:13.730 --> 00:06:16.089 killed its momentum, right? Pretty much. That 00:06:16.089 --> 00:06:18.269 classification severely limited its commercial 00:06:18.269 --> 00:06:21.269 viability and civilian adoption, so the technology 00:06:21.269 --> 00:06:24.689 had to pivot. By 1983, a company called Nova 00:06:24.689 --> 00:06:27.850 Technologies adapted the underlying patents to 00:06:27.850 --> 00:06:30.310 create the XR5000. And they just got rid of the 00:06:30.310 --> 00:06:33.740 darts entirely. Exactly. They ditched the projectiles, 00:06:33.860 --> 00:06:38.019 creating a handheld direct contact device. And 00:06:38.019 --> 00:06:40.980 that specific design became the blueprint for 00:06:40.980 --> 00:06:43.019 virtually all the comeback stun guns you see 00:06:43.019 --> 00:06:45.579 on the market today. OK, let's transition from 00:06:45.579 --> 00:06:48.459 the historical evolution to the actual physical 00:06:48.459 --> 00:06:50.959 reality of these things. What is the electrical 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:53.519 recipe happening the exact moment that trigger 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:56.160 is pulled? Well, the foundational science relies 00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:59.360 on a very specific ratio. It's a high voltage, 00:06:59.740 --> 00:07:02.079 low current electrical discharge. Let's unpack 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:04.459 that because voltage and current can be super 00:07:04.459 --> 00:07:06.779 confusing for people. The classic analogy is 00:07:06.779 --> 00:07:08.839 plumbing, right? Yep. Plumbing works perfectly. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:11.360 So voltage is the water pressure in the pipes 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:13.800 and current, which is measured in amps, is the 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:16.000 actual volume of water flowing through. That 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:17.740 is absolutely the best way to think about it. 00:07:17.740 --> 00:07:20.500 You need extremely high voltage, high pressure 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:23.319 to push the electricity through the resistance 00:07:23.319 --> 00:07:25.980 of human skin and layers of clothing. And we're 00:07:25.980 --> 00:07:28.779 talking a lot of pressure. A lot. The output 00:07:28.779 --> 00:07:31.060 can range anywhere from 100 volts on the low 00:07:31.060 --> 00:07:34.600 end up to a massive 6 ,000 volts, delivering 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:38.240 roughly 0 .9 to 10 joules of energy. But the 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:41.240 current, the actual volume of electricity, is 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:43.959 kept relatively low to avoid causing lethal organ 00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:46.310 damage. But even the current isn't as simple 00:07:46.310 --> 00:07:48.709 as it sounds in the source material. Take the 00:07:48.709 --> 00:07:52.290 M26 taser model. It produces a peak current of 00:07:52.290 --> 00:07:55.350 18 amps. Which is high. Right. In traditional 00:07:55.350 --> 00:07:57.810 electrical systems, 18 amps is more than enough 00:07:57.810 --> 00:08:00.610 to be lethal. But the mechanism that makes it 00:08:00.610 --> 00:08:03.699 supposedly survivable is a delivery window. It 00:08:03.699 --> 00:08:06.680 delivers those 18 amps in tiny micropulses that 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:09.420 only last for about 10 microseconds. Right. The 00:08:09.420 --> 00:08:11.220 problem, however, is that the human body does 00:08:11.220 --> 00:08:13.399 not behave like a predictable closed electrical 00:08:13.399 --> 00:08:16.339 circuit. We aren't just wires. Exactly. The actual 00:08:16.339 --> 00:08:18.500 amount of current that successfully hits a target's 00:08:18.500 --> 00:08:21.240 nervous system is not a fixed number. It fluctuates 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:23.699 wildly based on a massive list of variables. 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:25.620 We're talking about the target's natural electrical 00:08:25.620 --> 00:08:28.000 resistance, the thickness of their skin. The 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:30.829 ambient humidity. Yeah, and their bodily salinity, 00:08:30.949 --> 00:08:34.250 meaning how much salty, highly conductive sweat 00:08:34.250 --> 00:08:36.590 is on their skin at that exact moment. And of 00:08:36.590 --> 00:08:38.389 course, the type and thickness of the clothing 00:08:38.389 --> 00:08:40.690 they're wearing, all of that alters the flow. 00:08:41.110 --> 00:08:43.309 It really does. It also matters where the probes 00:08:43.309 --> 00:08:46.870 actually embed themselves. For maximum neuromuscular 00:08:46.870 --> 00:08:49.570 incapacitation, the target areas are typically 00:08:49.570 --> 00:08:52.070 the upper shoulder, below the rib cage, and the 00:08:52.070 --> 00:08:53.950 upper hip. Basically, you want to widespread 00:08:53.950 --> 00:08:56.549 across major muscle groups. Precisely. You want 00:08:56.549 --> 00:08:58.529 to cast a wide electrical net. I need to push 00:08:58.529 --> 00:09:00.750 back on something here though. We are talking 00:09:00.750 --> 00:09:04.690 about low current and micro pulses designed specifically 00:09:04.690 --> 00:09:08.210 to prevent death. Yet the manufacturers explicitly 00:09:08.210 --> 00:09:10.629 warn that prolonged exposure to these devices 00:09:10.629 --> 00:09:13.389 can lead to cumulative exhaustion and breathing 00:09:13.389 --> 00:09:16.289 impairment. That doesn't sound like a clean harmless 00:09:16.289 --> 00:09:18.730 override to me. That tension is exactly where 00:09:18.730 --> 00:09:21.049 the engineering hits the messy reality of human 00:09:21.049 --> 00:09:24.389 biology. I mean, a healthy, resting 30 -year 00:09:24.389 --> 00:09:27.070 -old might handle a standard pulse with no lasting 00:09:27.070 --> 00:09:29.610 physical damage. Sure, in a lab setting. Right. 00:09:30.049 --> 00:09:32.610 But what happens if the target has an underlying, 00:09:33.129 --> 00:09:36.070 undiagnosed heart condition? What if they are 00:09:36.070 --> 00:09:39.049 in a state of extreme agitation, or their system 00:09:39.049 --> 00:09:42.129 is flooded with adrenaline or narcotics? The 00:09:42.129 --> 00:09:45.169 baseline changes completely. It does. A quote 00:09:45.169 --> 00:09:48.970 -unquote safe, low current suddenly becomes a 00:09:48.970 --> 00:09:51.700 massive physiological burden. And the mechanism 00:09:51.700 --> 00:09:54.360 of delivery plays a huge role in that burden. 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:57.419 The X26 model, for instance, has a built -in 00:09:57.419 --> 00:09:59.919 safety measure. When you pull the trigger, it 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:02.240 automatically starts after a five -second burst, 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:04.659 five seconds of incapacitation. But the critical 00:10:04.659 --> 00:10:07.080 flaw, or feature, depending on how you view it, 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:10.200 is that the software does not prevent the operator 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:12.080 from simply pulling the trigger a second time. 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:14.980 Oh, wow. Or a third time. In fact, an operator 00:10:14.980 --> 00:10:17.539 can hold the trigger down continuously. As long 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:19.559 as the device has battery life and some models 00:10:19.559 --> 00:10:22.120 can sustain a charge for up to 10 minutes, that 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:23.879 electricity can keep flowing into the target. 00:10:24.139 --> 00:10:27.080 Ten uninterrupted minutes of high voltage motor 00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:29.659 override. That is a terrifying amount of time 00:10:29.659 --> 00:10:32.000 for a human heart to endure. It really is. And 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.639 that realization that human error or extended 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:37.320 triggers can escalate the danger is probably 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:39.440 why we've seen this exact same electrical science 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:41.700 aggressively adapted into other formats, right? 00:10:41.980 --> 00:10:44.580 Trying to manage distance and control. And some 00:10:44.580 --> 00:10:47.120 of these formats are genuinely bizarre. Oh, absolutely 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:49.100 bizarre. You have the standard compact devices. 00:10:49.370 --> 00:10:52.330 often disguised as lipsticks or cell phones for 00:10:52.330 --> 00:10:54.690 the civilian self -defense market. But in law 00:10:54.690 --> 00:10:56.710 enforcement and corrections, the scale changes 00:10:56.710 --> 00:10:59.850 entirely. What do they use? Well, you see baton 00:10:59.850 --> 00:11:02.230 -style prods, which are longer and offer more 00:11:02.230 --> 00:11:05.590 leverage. You see stun shields, which have exposed 00:11:05.590 --> 00:11:07.950 electrodes embedded right into the convex face 00:11:07.950 --> 00:11:10.350 of a riot shield designed for crowd control. 00:11:10.490 --> 00:11:12.710 And then you have the remote -controlled applications 00:11:12.710 --> 00:11:15.509 like the stun belts. The source material mentions 00:11:15.509 --> 00:11:19.049 the REACT belt, which is heavily used on prisoners 00:11:19.049 --> 00:11:22.129 in the United States. Yes, the REACT belt. It 00:11:22.129 --> 00:11:24.590 fastens around the waist, the leg, or the arm. 00:11:25.110 --> 00:11:27.529 It can be used to physically restrain the hands. 00:11:28.190 --> 00:11:30.470 But the primary function is the shock mechanism. 00:11:30.970 --> 00:11:33.830 It is triggered by a remote control held by an 00:11:33.830 --> 00:11:36.940 officer. Or it can be programmed to trigger automatically 00:11:36.940 --> 00:11:39.460 if the prisoner makes a sudden unauthorized movement. 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:42.220 It is basically the ultimate form of compliance 00:11:42.220 --> 00:11:44.980 through the threat of immediate invisible distance 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:47.320 enforcement. Yeah. And increasing that distance 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.899 is the primary goal of the newer. more experimental 00:11:50.899 --> 00:11:53.679 prototypes. Take the XREP, for example. Right. 00:11:53.740 --> 00:11:56.860 Which stands for Extended Range Electromuscular 00:11:56.860 --> 00:11:59.840 Projectile. Exactly. That is essentially a wireless 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:02.379 electroshock projectile that gets fired out of 00:12:02.379 --> 00:12:04.759 a standard 12 gauge shotgun. Instead of trailing 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:07.120 wires back to a handgun. Right. Instead of trailing 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:09.639 wires, the shotgun shell itself contains a tiny 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:12.740 high voltage battery. It hits the target, embeds 00:12:12.740 --> 00:12:15.700 the electrodes and delivers the shock wirelessly, 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:18.519 boasting a 30 meter range. But even the XREP 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:20.679 looks conventional. compared to some of the prototypes 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:23.179 out there. There have been serious engineering 00:12:23.179 --> 00:12:25.720 attempts to create weapons that administer an 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:28.360 electric shock through a continuous stream of 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:31.440 fluid. Yeah that one is it's out there. An electrified 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:34.059 super soaker. Essentially yes. The idea is to 00:12:34.059 --> 00:12:36.720 shoot a stream of highly conductive liquid like 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:39.399 a metallic solution or just heavy salt water. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:42.240 The logic being that you wouldn't need to reload 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:44.840 individual dart cartridges, and you could sweep 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:47.639 the stream across multiple targets. But the practical 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.679 flaws with that are almost comical. If an officer 00:12:50.679 --> 00:12:53.279 shoots a suspect with a heavy stream of electrified 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:56.379 salt water, that water doesn't just vanish. No, 00:12:56.399 --> 00:12:58.509 it has to go somewhere. It pools on the ground. 00:12:59.190 --> 00:13:02.049 Suddenly, the suspect is standing in an electrified 00:13:02.049 --> 00:13:04.129 puddle, and the officers trying to move in and 00:13:04.129 --> 00:13:06.590 apprehend them are stepping into that exact same 00:13:06.590 --> 00:13:09.549 puddle. Plus, you would need a massive heavy 00:13:09.549 --> 00:13:12.490 tank just to carry the fluid. Those logistical 00:13:12.490 --> 00:13:14.870 nightmares are exactly why it remains a prototype. 00:13:15.090 --> 00:13:17.919 Yeah. But an even more chaotic concept is the 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:20.620 plasma taser. The aerosol concept. This one truly 00:13:20.620 --> 00:13:23.759 baffles me. The design proposes using a pressurized 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:26.259 aerosol spray as the conductive medium for the 00:13:26.259 --> 00:13:29.179 electricity instead of a solid wire or a liquid 00:13:29.179 --> 00:13:32.279 stream. But think about the physics of gas. If 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:35.179 an officer sprays an electrified aerosol cloud 00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:37.779 in an enclosed space, like a narrow hallway or 00:13:37.779 --> 00:13:40.360 a small room, doesn't the natural expansion of 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:42.419 the gas mean they just end up shocking themselves 00:13:42.419 --> 00:13:45.360 and literally everyone else in the room? That 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:49.379 is the precise fundamental flaw. Gas expands 00:13:49.379 --> 00:13:52.440 to fill its container. If you electrify a cloud 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:55.340 of gas, everyone breathing or standing in that 00:13:55.340 --> 00:13:57.460 cloud becomes part of the electrical circuit. 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:00.820 It's crazy. It is an indiscriminate area of effect 00:14:00.820 --> 00:14:03.899 weapon in a field that supposedly demands absolute 00:14:03.899 --> 00:14:07.580 precision. The Russian S -5 cyclical stun pistol 00:14:07.580 --> 00:14:10.139 seems a bit more grounded in reality, at least. 00:14:10.330 --> 00:14:12.950 Developed by Oleg and Tishkin, it relies on physical 00:14:12.950 --> 00:14:15.690 wire, but it fires tensioned, uninsulated wire. 00:14:15.769 --> 00:14:17.529 Right, a different mechanical approach. And the 00:14:17.529 --> 00:14:19.429 innovation there is that it can cycle multiple 00:14:19.429 --> 00:14:22.049 shots with successive pulls of the trigger, whereas 00:14:22.049 --> 00:14:24.370 a standard taser usually requires the operator 00:14:24.370 --> 00:14:26.809 to manually reload a new cartridge after a single 00:14:26.809 --> 00:14:29.649 shot. It really demonstrates the global race 00:14:29.649 --> 00:14:33.639 to refine this technology. But every time the 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:36.379 technology evolves, especially when we talk about 00:14:36.379 --> 00:14:39.279 remote -controlled stun belts or devices capable 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:43.320 of extended repeated shocks, it brings us face 00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:46.220 to face with the darkest, most heavily debated 00:14:46.220 --> 00:14:49.360 aspect of these tools. The ethical controversies. 00:14:49.539 --> 00:14:51.940 Exactly. The ethics and the medical realities 00:14:51.940 --> 00:14:54.220 of fatal encounters. And before we dive into 00:14:54.220 --> 00:14:56.799 this part, I need to explicitly state to you, 00:14:56.840 --> 00:14:58.720 the listener, that we are remaining strictly 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:00.600 impartial here. We aren't taking a political 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:02.700 stance on policing. We are simply reporting the 00:15:02.700 --> 00:15:05.419 medical findings and human rights claims documented 00:15:05.419 --> 00:15:07.720 in our source material. It's important context. 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:10.019 Because we have to look at how these tools actually 00:15:10.019 --> 00:15:13.080 impact communities and human lives. For a very 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:15.120 long time, the defense and security industries 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:18.100 categorized electroshock weapons strictly as, 00:15:18.100 --> 00:15:20.500 quote unquote, non -lethal. But that language 00:15:20.500 --> 00:15:23.220 has shifted significantly over the years. Taser 00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:25.700 International itself. no longer uses the term 00:15:25.700 --> 00:15:28.139 non -lethal. Interesting. Yeah. They now describe 00:15:28.139 --> 00:15:30.679 the devices as less lethal, or they frame them 00:15:30.679 --> 00:15:33.200 as being safer than other use of force options. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:37.240 That shift from non to less is a massive medical 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:40.159 and legal concession. Now, there are certainly 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:42.159 clinical studies like those conducted by the 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:44.879 Cleveland Clinic and UC San Diego that demonstrate 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:47.820 healthy subjects experiencing no severe short 00:15:47.820 --> 00:15:49.720 -term effects. Right, and showing that standard 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:52.019 pacemakers generally withstand the electrical 00:15:52.019 --> 00:15:55.450 pulses fine. But... Controlled clinical trials 00:15:55.450 --> 00:15:58.629 on calm, healthy volunteers do not reflect the 00:15:58.629 --> 00:16:01.409 reality of the streets. No, they don't. The physical 00:16:01.409 --> 00:16:03.370 reality on the ground is where the tragedies 00:16:03.370 --> 00:16:06.870 occur. We see highly publicized fatal incidents. 00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:10.159 Take the case of Robert Zekanski, a Polish immigrant 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.720 at the Vancouver airport. That was a huge story. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.899 It was. He was highly agitated, and during his 00:16:15.899 --> 00:16:17.940 restraint, he was subjected to multiple shocks. 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:20.740 He experienced sudden cardiac death, with the 00:16:20.740 --> 00:16:23.000 pathologist later noting that chronic alcoholism 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:25.860 was a contributory factor in how his heart handled 00:16:25.860 --> 00:16:28.399 the stress. Or the case of Roberto Lodizio Curti 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:31.080 in Sydney. He was a 21 -year -old tourist. The 00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:33.419 documented scene was incredibly chaotic. Very 00:16:33.419 --> 00:16:36.340 chaotic. He was pepper sprayed, physically compressed 00:16:36.340 --> 00:16:38.019 against the ground by the combined weight of 00:16:38.019 --> 00:16:40.919 several police officers, and simultaneously shocked 00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:44.279 repeatedly with tasers. He did not survive, and 00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:46.480 the subsequent coroner's report explicitly called 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:49.460 the repeated overlapping use of those electroshock 00:16:49.460 --> 00:16:52.700 devices excessive and unnecessary. To understand 00:16:52.700 --> 00:16:55.399 why repeated shocks are so uniquely dangerous, 00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:58.259 we have to look at the heart itself. A major 00:16:58.259 --> 00:17:00.299 study conducted for the Canadian Broadcasting 00:17:00.299 --> 00:17:03.299 Corporation found a terrifying biological mechanism 00:17:03.299 --> 00:17:06.619 at play. They investigated something called ventricular 00:17:06.619 --> 00:17:09.740 fibrillation. Which is what? Ventricular fibrillation 00:17:09.740 --> 00:17:11.779 is a condition where the electrical signals in 00:17:11.779 --> 00:17:13.759 the lower chambers of the heart become entirely 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:16.920 scrambled. So instead of pumping blood forcefully, 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:19.559 the heart muscle essentially just quivers. Oh, 00:17:19.559 --> 00:17:23.180 God. Yeah. Blood pressure drops to zero and without 00:17:23.180 --> 00:17:26.059 immediate intervention, it is fatal. And the 00:17:26.059 --> 00:17:28.420 CBC study found that the energy threshold required 00:17:28.420 --> 00:17:31.279 to induce that deadly fibrillation drops dramatically 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:33.920 with each successive burst of pulses. That is 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:37.160 the core medical danger. The human heart relies 00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:40.700 on a very precise electrical rhythm. When a taser 00:17:40.700 --> 00:17:44.099 hits you, it introduces massive external electrical 00:17:44.099 --> 00:17:47.039 noise. A huge shock to the system. Right. Your 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:49.400 heart might survive that first five second burst 00:17:49.400 --> 00:17:52.140 and recover, but if the trigger is pulled immediately 00:17:52.140 --> 00:17:55.539 again for a second, third, or fourth burst, the 00:17:55.539 --> 00:17:57.880 heart doesn't have time to fully reset its natural 00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:01.160 rhythm. So it's compounding. Exactly. Every subsequent 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:03.799 shock requires far less energy to trigger total 00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:06.119 cardiac collapse. So it makes me wonder, does 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:09.039 the label less -legal actually make these weapons 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:12.039 more dangerous in practice? How do you mean? 00:18:12.500 --> 00:18:14.680 Well, because if the person pulling the trigger 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:17.440 assumes they won't be permanent, lethal consequences, 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.259 unlike drawing a traditional firearm, they might 00:18:20.259 --> 00:18:22.559 deploy the electricity much earlier and much 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:25.079 more frequently in situations that don't actually 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:28.140 warrant it. That psychological paradox is precisely 00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:30.359 why international human rights organizations 00:18:30.359 --> 00:18:33.400 are so deeply concerned. Amnesty International 00:18:33.400 --> 00:18:35.740 and the UN Committee Against Torture have evaluated 00:18:35.740 --> 00:18:37.859 these devices. And what did they find? They have 00:18:37.859 --> 00:18:40.640 officially classified the use of stun belts and 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:43.980 the excessive repeated use of tasers as potential 00:18:43.980 --> 00:18:46.680 forms of torture. Because they inflict acute 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:49.640 agonizing pain. The pain is central to it, absolutely, 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.619 but it's also the physical aftermath. Think about 00:18:52.619 --> 00:18:55.599 it. A traditional police baton leaves obvious 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:59.160 trauma. Deep bruising, lacerations, or broken 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:02.940 bones. Evidence. Right, evidence. An electroshock 00:19:02.940 --> 00:19:05.200 weapon can inflict overwhelming neurological 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:08.559 agony but leave almost nothing behind except 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:12.069 a tiny puncture wound or a small red mark. The 00:19:12.069 --> 00:19:14.670 lack of visible evidence creates a terrifyingly 00:19:14.670 --> 00:19:17.150 high potential for abuse. It is literally an 00:19:17.150 --> 00:19:19.829 invisible application of force. And because the 00:19:19.829 --> 00:19:22.329 medical consensus is so fractured between safe 00:19:22.329 --> 00:19:25.329 in a lab and fatal on the street, the legal status 00:19:25.329 --> 00:19:27.789 of electroshock weapons globally is a complete 00:19:27.789 --> 00:19:30.430 jigsaw puzzle. Oh, it's a mess. Let's trace how 00:19:30.430 --> 00:19:32.069 different governments actually try to regulate 00:19:32.069 --> 00:19:34.029 them. In the United States, the legal framework 00:19:34.029 --> 00:19:36.069 is heavily dictated by the Second Amendment. 00:19:36.549 --> 00:19:41.259 Yes. In 2016, the US Supreme Court heard a pivotal 00:19:41.259 --> 00:19:45.619 case, Caetano v. Massachusetts. The core question 00:19:45.619 --> 00:19:48.940 there was whether stun guns and tasers are protected 00:19:48.940 --> 00:19:52.019 as quote unquote bearable arms under the constitution, 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:54.460 even though they obviously weren't invented when 00:19:54.460 --> 00:19:56.410 the second amendment was written. And the court's 00:19:56.410 --> 00:19:59.049 rationale essentially confirmed that Second Amendment 00:19:59.049 --> 00:20:01.930 protections do extend to modern instruments of 00:20:01.930 --> 00:20:04.890 self -defense. That single ruling triggered a 00:20:04.890 --> 00:20:07.089 massive domino effect across the country. It 00:20:07.089 --> 00:20:09.829 really did. Broad, outright bans on civilian 00:20:09.829 --> 00:20:12.490 ownership in states like Hawaii, Massachusetts, 00:20:12.710 --> 00:20:14.970 New York, Rhode Island, and New Jersey have all 00:20:14.970 --> 00:20:17.190 been struck down or formally repealed in recent 00:20:17.190 --> 00:20:19.950 years. Even local city ordinances like those 00:20:19.950 --> 00:20:21.910 in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans were 00:20:21.910 --> 00:20:23.869 completely dismantled. So in the U .S., they 00:20:23.869 --> 00:20:26.299 are widely available. to the public. But if you 00:20:26.299 --> 00:20:28.279 take a flight across the Atlantic to the United 00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:30.599 Kingdom, you enter a totally different legal 00:20:30.599 --> 00:20:33.940 universe. Night and day. Under the UK's Firearms 00:20:33.940 --> 00:20:36.799 Act, electroshock devices are classified outright 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:39.640 as prohibited weapons. Simply possessing one 00:20:39.640 --> 00:20:41.839 can result in a prison sentence of up to ten 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:44.609 years. Ten years. Yeah. And if the device is 00:20:44.609 --> 00:20:47.529 disguised as an everyday object, like those flashlight 00:20:47.529 --> 00:20:50.049 or cell phone stun guns we mentioned, there is 00:20:50.049 --> 00:20:52.849 a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. The 00:20:52.849 --> 00:20:55.609 UK authorities do not compromise on that classification, 00:20:56.009 --> 00:20:58.029 even for their own law enforcement. There is 00:20:58.029 --> 00:21:00.549 actually a wild incident from 2010 that proves 00:21:00.549 --> 00:21:03.130 just how strict they are. Northumbria police 00:21:03.130 --> 00:21:06.390 were engaged in a massive, high profile manhunt. 00:21:06.490 --> 00:21:08.029 Right, I remember reading about this in the source 00:21:08.029 --> 00:21:10.609 material. During the standoff, officers deployed 00:21:10.609 --> 00:21:13.420 the XREP wireless shotgun caser we discussed 00:21:13.420 --> 00:21:16.359 earlier, but it was later revealed that the XREP 00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:18.819 had never actually been officially approved for 00:21:18.819 --> 00:21:21.799 use by the UK government. Yeah, the civilian 00:21:21.799 --> 00:21:24.000 supplier had simply brought the prototype to 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:25.599 the scene and handed it over to the desperate 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:27.960 officers. When the Home Secretary found out, 00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:30.099 they completely revoked the supplier's license 00:21:30.099 --> 00:21:32.819 to provide taser systems. It really underscores 00:21:32.819 --> 00:21:36.299 a rigid adherence to protocol. Meanwhile, a country 00:21:36.299 --> 00:21:39.000 like Canada presents a completely different regulatory 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:43.029 hurdle, bureaucratic paralysis. For years, the 00:21:43.029 --> 00:21:46.130 Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the RCMP, operated 00:21:46.130 --> 00:21:49.289 under a massive legal misunderstanding. A paperwork 00:21:49.289 --> 00:21:52.430 issue, essentially. Exactly. They erroneously 00:21:52.430 --> 00:21:55.029 classified tasers in their internal paperwork 00:21:55.029 --> 00:21:58.049 as prohibited weapons rather than prohibited 00:21:58.049 --> 00:22:01.009 firearms. Now, to a layperson, that sounds like 00:22:01.009 --> 00:22:03.869 pure semantics. A weapon versus a firearm. Who 00:22:03.869 --> 00:22:06.900 cares? But in a legal framework... The distinction 00:22:06.900 --> 00:22:09.700 dictates exactly who has the legal authority 00:22:09.700 --> 00:22:13.019 to authorize, carry, and deploy the device under 00:22:13.019 --> 00:22:15.720 provincial policing acts. Because of that simple 00:22:15.720 --> 00:22:18.380 paperwork error, the actual legal authority of 00:22:18.380 --> 00:22:21.019 Canadian police to use these devices was thrown 00:22:21.019 --> 00:22:24.319 into serious question for years. It caused widespread 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:26.599 operational confusion. And if you look at the 00:22:26.599 --> 00:22:29.160 rest of the world, the rules just vary wildly 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:31.579 from border to border. In the Czech Republic, 00:22:31.660 --> 00:22:34.839 these devices are classified as class CI firearms, 00:22:34.980 --> 00:22:36.920 which means what exactly? That means they are 00:22:36.920 --> 00:22:39.000 freely available to purchase over the counter 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:41.759 for anyone over the age of 18 who has a clean 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:44.380 criminal record in a registered address. Oh, 00:22:44.380 --> 00:22:47.220 wow. And in Brazil, they are heavily integrated 00:22:47.220 --> 00:22:50.059 into the daily patrols of municipal guards. But 00:22:50.059 --> 00:22:52.700 in Japan, they are strictly prohibited, banned 00:22:52.700 --> 00:22:55.259 for civilian import, purchase or carrying in 00:22:55.259 --> 00:22:58.819 any capacity. Think about the sheer absurdity 00:22:58.819 --> 00:23:01.170 of that global landscape for a second. You could 00:23:01.170 --> 00:23:04.910 be a tourist who legally buys a stun gun in a 00:23:04.910 --> 00:23:07.349 shop in Prague. You drop it into your checked 00:23:07.349 --> 00:23:09.609 luggage. If your connecting flight gets diverted 00:23:09.609 --> 00:23:12.150 and you land in London, you are suddenly facing 00:23:12.150 --> 00:23:15.349 a decade in a British prison for possessing the 00:23:15.349 --> 00:23:18.349 exact same piece of plastic and wire that you 00:23:18.349 --> 00:23:21.069 bought legally that morning. It perfectly illustrates 00:23:21.069 --> 00:23:24.589 how human technological innovation consistently 00:23:24.589 --> 00:23:27.670 outpaces international consensus. I mean, we 00:23:27.670 --> 00:23:30.329 have engineered a tool that interacts with the 00:23:30.329 --> 00:23:32.589 deepest biological functions of the human nervous 00:23:32.589 --> 00:23:36.410 system, yet every legal border you cross applies 00:23:36.410 --> 00:23:38.450 a fundamentally different interpretation of what 00:23:38.450 --> 00:23:40.650 that tool actually represents. We've covered 00:23:40.650 --> 00:23:42.869 a massive amount of ground today. We've traced 00:23:42.869 --> 00:23:46.009 the evolution from a crude 1500 volt Cuban police 00:23:46.009 --> 00:23:48.950 glove in the 1930s to Thomas Swift's electric 00:23:48.950 --> 00:23:51.809 rifle. We've explored the bizarre engineering 00:23:51.809 --> 00:23:54.490 dead ends of fluid streams and electrified aerosols. 00:23:54.509 --> 00:23:56.650 We've broken down the biological mechanisms to 00:23:56.650 --> 00:23:58.650 the critical difference between targeting the 00:23:58.650 --> 00:24:01.210 sensory nerves with a stun gun versus forcefully 00:24:01.210 --> 00:24:03.390 overriding the motor system with a taser. And 00:24:03.390 --> 00:24:06.650 we've looked at the very real, often tragic medical 00:24:06.650 --> 00:24:09.549 realities of deploying electricity into the unpredictable 00:24:09.549 --> 00:24:12.589 human body. We've seen how a device designed 00:24:12.589 --> 00:24:15.549 to save lives can become fatal, and how the global 00:24:15.549 --> 00:24:17.650 legal system is still struggling to decide if 00:24:17.650 --> 00:24:19.970 these tools are valid instruments of self -defense, 00:24:20.430 --> 00:24:22.829 prohibited firearms, or invisible instruments 00:24:22.829 --> 00:24:25.690 of abuse. Which leaves us with a lingering question 00:24:25.690 --> 00:24:28.890 about where this technology goes next. If engineering 00:24:28.890 --> 00:24:31.349 continues to advance, try to imagine a future 00:24:31.349 --> 00:24:34.230 where an electroshock weapon is perfected. Perfected 00:24:34.230 --> 00:24:37.170 how? Imagine it truly has zero risk of pain, 00:24:37.789 --> 00:24:40.730 zero risk of cardiac stress, and zero risk of 00:24:40.730 --> 00:24:43.410 death. It is just a perfectly safe, immediate, 00:24:43.569 --> 00:24:46.339 and temporary pause button for the human body. 00:24:46.700 --> 00:24:48.680 A completely harmless biological pause button. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:51.200 Yes. Would achieving that perfection finally 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:53.519 end the ethical controversy? Or, and this is 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:55.579 the really scary thought, if authorities had 00:24:55.579 --> 00:24:57.839 access to a totally harmless pause button, would 00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:00.200 they begin to use it so casually for every minor 00:25:00.200 --> 00:25:02.420 argument or infraction that it fundamentally 00:25:02.420 --> 00:25:04.559 destroys the very concept of physical freedom? 00:25:04.940 --> 00:25:07.670 Wow. If it doesn't hurt, does it become too easy 00:25:07.670 --> 00:25:09.589 to use? That is the thought that is going to 00:25:09.589 --> 00:25:11.809 stay with me for a long time. Thank you for joining 00:25:11.809 --> 00:25:15.009 us on this deep dive. Keep asking questions and 00:25:15.009 --> 00:25:17.230 keep challenging your assumptions. Because as 00:25:17.230 --> 00:25:18.829 we've discovered today, when it comes to applying 00:25:18.829 --> 00:25:21.309 technology to the human body, that expectation 00:25:21.309 --> 00:25:24.049 of precision, that clean, predictable push of 00:25:24.049 --> 00:25:26.990 a button is just an illusion. The reality is 00:25:26.990 --> 00:25:28.509 always infinitely more complex.