What Does a Stun Gun Do?

Stun guns are non-lethal weapons that deliver electrical current. This energy causes the victim to be incapacitated, or stunned, and can also temporarily paralyze them.

A stun gun works by delivering enough electricity at a high enough voltage, for a long enough time, to create pain. This amount of power is measured in microcoulombs.

Disorientation

A stun gun shocks people and causes disorientation.

A stun gun is a self-defense weapon that uses high voltage electricity to temporarily immobilize a target. It can also be used to disable an attacker for a period of time so that you can escape and get help.

Stun guns operate by delivering electric pulses that key into the brain’s electrical signals, which control skeletal muscles. When the charge is sent to the skeletal muscles, it combines with these electrical signals to cause them to work on an inefficient basis.

This depletes blood sugar in the muscles, leaving them unable to function and, therefore, causing disorientation. The current also interrupts the tiny neurological impulses that travel throughout the body to direct muscle movement, which leads to a loss of balance and disorientation.

While stun gun is a relatively safe and effective tool for self-defense, it must be used responsibly. It should never be carried in public without permission from the person or location where it is intended to be used, and there must be a way to quickly discharge it if it is accidentally taken away.

Disarming

In short, the stun gun delivers an electrical pulse that causes muscle spasms and disarms the target. It also causes the attacker to lose control of their muscles and may disorient them.

Many police departments across the country are equipped with stun guns and use them to disarm a threatening person. They are also being used by civilians to protect themselves against criminals.

The effectiveness of a stun gun depends on the voltage, current and duration of the discharge. For a stun gun to be effective, it must deliver sufficient current, at a high enough voltage, for a long enough time to create pain.

This is a critical issue for stun guns to work because they can cause severe physical injury or death if the charge is applied wrongly or used too quickly. To avoid this, be sure to check local and state laws before using a stun gun.

Injury

A stun gun works by sending electricity to a person’s skeletal muscles. This causes the person’s muscles to spasm and makes him or her unable to move or attack.

In some cases, people are injured by the shocks they receive from a stun gun. This can include burns and muscle problems.

These injuries can be very serious and need to be evaluated by a doctor. They may also include twisting of a testicle (testicular torsion), which can cut off blood flow to the scrotum and cause a testicle to die.

In addition to these common types of injuries, some people have died from cardiac problems after a shock from a stun gun. These deaths are rare, Giordano said, but some animal studies have shown that electrical discharges from a stun gun can stimulate cardiac muscle.

Death

When a stun gun is “shot,” it emits electrical barbs into your clothing and skin that shock you, knock you off your feet and put you in a daze. It can also stop your heart, causing cardiac arrest and fatally injuring you.

Stun guns — or conducted electrical weapons, or CEWs — are used by law enforcement to subdue people who are threatening their lives, and to control others with physical force. They’re also used to deal with people who have mental health issues or emotional breakdowns and seizures.

In rare cases, stun guns can cause rhabdomyolysis, a serious condition in which your muscle tissue breaks down into proteins that damage kidneys and could be fatal. They can also trigger testicular torsion, which can cut off blood flow to the testicles and lead to death if it doesn’t heal within six hours.

Reuters has documented 1,005 incidents in the United States in which people have died after police stunned them with Tasers, almost all since the early 2000s. These deaths are often among the most vulnerable people: unarmed, in distress and seeking help.