Taser plugs in the stun gun for everyone

Shocking

CES 2007 Stun gun manufacturer Taser International has electrified CES with a new "consumer friendly" version of its crippling high voltage weapon at the low, low price of $299.

The firm's new ergonomic C2 comes in a range of jazzy colours for the style-conscious vigilante; Black Pearl, Titanium Silver, Electric Blue, and Metallic Pink.

Taser chairman Tom Smith said: "The TASER C2 is the next generation in personal protection. TASER International was founded to create safer personal protection alternatives."

Human rights group Amnesty International has repeatedly called for an independent safety assessment of Taser technology. The group says 220 people have died after being hit by a stun gun in America since 2001. The organisation renewed its campaign in light of Taser actively marketing a product to US consumers, which it said could have "devastating consquences". See Business Week here.

Set to jolt ne'er do-wells from April this year, the C2 has a 15 foot range and comes packaged with a training DVD.

In the hands of professionally trained law enforcement officers in New York and Florida, Taser-type devices killed two people over the weekend. ®

Bootnote

See here for an illuminating video of UCLA campus police frying a hapless and ID-less student.