Is it a phone? Is it a Taser? No, it's a cattle prod!

"no legitimate reason why a civilian should have one"

And when has THAT ever been an issue - they are over the counter sales in LA.

Dangers of fast reading...

For more than a second there, when I saw "Novel explanation for mobile stun gun", I thought: Novell is making stun guns that look like cell phones!? COOL! :-)

Then I read the article and found there ARE stun guns that look like cell phones, although the Penguin peddler has nothing to do with it, alas. That could be amusing to watch. Wrong button and a call will be dropped, but for a more, ahem, shocking reason...

Reasons

It's funny that the author can't think of a reason for regular folk to have tasers / stun guns, but the Ads by Google apparently can.

Cattle-prod...

"Tasers are nasty things and we can think of no legitimate reason why a civilian should have one".

Yeah, riiiight. Like we didn´t know where this guy got such an idea...

I hereby request a BOFH Icon. Where is our beloved Red Horned Phone(tm) when we need it?

Cattle prods charged... KZZZZERRTTT....

Phone and Taser and Cattle Prod

Sounds like a good combo - does it work on children? Won't somebody please think of the parents?

BOFH

It seems like you found the Gold Coast BOFH. Those cattle prods definitely look like they would be in the "BOFH's Best Choice" list...

that means much more dangerous, than official Tasers

Tasers, made by the American company, have been held to be responsible for many deaths.

In Vancouver, Canada, the RCMP killed an immigrant who did not understand English, see: < http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/14/bc-taservideo.html >.

A US report claims at least an additional 70 deaths, see: < http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/12/earlyshow/main648859.shtml >. A BBC report expands the detail, claiming 300 dead in the US, see: < http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7784665.stm >.

Not to be outdone, the Irish Plods also killed at least one person: see < http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17140 >.

The Chinese versions of these weapons are on sale in Cambodia for USD$15. When I checked a couple of versions out the devices had not ability to fire barbs so they were, in effect, more like cattle prods. This means the intended victim is within arms reach of the person applying the shock whereas Plod is way off their victims.

Perhaps the Oz defendant should have said he was experimenting with spark transmissions used way back when Titanic hit that frozen water.

Is that a phone in your pocket?

Or are you just shocked to see me?

So, it's just a repackaged cattle prod...

...and except for the electricity, it's not much like a projectile-firing taser at all. Hog farmers and stockyard workers in Australia routinely use a legally-available cheap compact prod about the same size as a N1200, which should serve the same purpose as this "cellphone" shocker.

iProd?

Guaranteed to be mishandled only ONCE!

Nasty Things

I suppose they are, but that doesn't mean there's no reason for a civilian to have one. Nasty things are very handy when nasty people try to hurt you.

In the US, at least in most states, even famously pro-gun control California, you can easily buy a (non-projectile) stungun. Recently I've seen (projectile) Tasers in stores to, but these are fairly tightly controlled. Arguably even more than guns, not only do you have to register it and pass a background check, it fires serial number confetti when used.

In my opinion they have a bad reputation just because police are trigger happy with them. If anything they're probably safer in the hands of a civilian who knows they can't get away with that kind of behavior.

Admittedly, I'm not sure there's a really good reason for them to be disguised as phones.

Disarm the peasants.

"Tasers are nasty things and we can think of no legitimate reason why a civilian should have one..."

Weapons? Only for the king and the king's men.

"Civilians" should have access to these weapons because they are useful for non-lethal self-defense (or defence, pick your English). The right to preserve your own life and safety is the most fundamental right of a sentient being.

Huh?

I really would really would like to hear his reason for disguising his cattleprod as a phone!

Are his cows smart enough to know one when they see it? And if so was he hoping to they would be currious enough to let him get close enough to use it if it was disguised as a phone?

"Moo - oh hey, is that the new iPhone?" ZAP!

You've got it all wrong

They are not stun guns that look like mobile phones. They are just mobile phones with pre-release copies of Window Phone 7 on them and people are shocked when they see it. There is a difference.

/mines the one with the cattle prod shaped like a cane sticking out the pocket.

Cat gun?

Any idea if these are illegal in England?

And also a site where they could be ordered?

...There's a cat that keeps getting into my garden and eating my koy fish out the pond.

Badgers, because there's not a cat sign

Taser International - "a highly reputable company"

Taser International - "...a highly reputable company..." That's a matter for debate...

The basic issue is that, in their marketing of tasers, they claim essentially perfect safety. The only risks that they highlight are secondary issues such as falling down or drowning in puddles. Their medical director writes articles about how the taser cannot possible affect the heart, how it has a "15-to-1" electrical safety margin, and how the risk of cardiac effect is "essentially zero". They claim the output is only "2mA average", and imply that this average measurement is somehow relevant.

In reality, tasers are not as safe as claimed, the X26 taser has a much lower cardiac safety margin than claimed, and the risk of death from direct effects (while low) is actually many orders of magnitude higher than they imply. They also claim legal victories that were actually settlements. The actual output from the X26 taser is about 150mA RMS, or about 30 to 50 mA 'Effective'. Taser International also promotes "excited delirium" as an explanation for the many taser associated deaths (their lawyer even registers websites).

For reference, I direct your attention to the following search topics:

1) The Braindwood Inquiry

2) Excited-Delirium blog

3) The taser's "Curious Temporal Asymmetry"

4) How many amps in a police taser?

There are MAJOR issues with the marketing of tasers.

re: Tasers illegal in your area ?

I can confirm that disposable cameras make excellent tasers. I have zapped myself with them many times when I used to develop photos for a living, its extremely powerful for its size.