What is a Stun Gun?

A stun gun is a type of electroshock weapon with barbs that pierce the skin to establish a circuit. It delivers a brief pulse of 50 kilovolts, enough to temporarily paralyze muscle tissue.

A stick lift is a defensive maneuver where the player comes up underneath their opponent’s stick and lifting it to prevent them from playing the puck. Does this qualify as a penalty under standard of play guidelines?

Origins

A stick lift is one of the first offensive skills most players learn when they start playing hockey. The two hand FH or BH lift is used to sweep an opponent’s stick away and change possession on the ice. It’s a simple move that works so well you see top players do it all the time.

Modern stun guns use a battery, transformers, a computer-controlled oscillator, a capacitor and electrodes to send out a high voltage pulse when activated by the trigger. These electrodes are then pressed against the target and ionize their skin.

When the barbs contact conductive skin, they deliver a small electric shock that disrupts muscle communication with the brain. The shock causes the muscles to twitch uncontrollably. Despite the high voltages involved, death from a stun gun is extremely rare. A single shock can cause confusion, a loss of balance, and muscle spasms.

Functions

Modern stun guns emit a high voltage that disrupts the electrical signals the body’s nervous system sends to control the muscles. It is extremely painful, but not lethal. It is reported that it takes up to an hour for the body to recover from a single shock.

The body’s nervous system is a communication system that sends signals from the brain to the muscles that control movement. Using the stick lift, a player can make contact with the opponent’s stick in such a way as to interfere with this communication.

Under the new standards of play, extended stick lifts do not result in a penalty as long as they do not impede an effort to play the puck. However, it is conceivable that players could use this technique to hook the opponent’s stick. If this is the case, a player would be penalized for slashing. To prevent this, the stick lift should be used as soon as an attempt is made to play the puck.

Variations

The stick lift is a really cool skill and one that can be utilized in a variety of ways. Whether it’s to block the pass or strip the puck you see players use the technique all the time in various situations, especially on the power play.

You can also do a stick lift check where you come up underneath the opponent and prevent them from playing the puck. This isn’t necessarily a penalty under newer Standards of Play guidelines but it does impede them and create space between you.

Older stun guns rely on high voltage to arc through clothing and establish contact with the skin. Modern pulse-modulated stun guns capture the alpha motor neurons and cause the muscles to seize up very quickly. They can be even more effective than the high-voltage electrical charge of older models. This is because the pulses target specific muscle groups that are very difficult to control. They also have shorter durations than the old stun guns.

Applications

A stun gun uses an electric discharge to override the body’s muscle-triggering mechanisms.[1] These weapons are a relative of cattle prods.[2] Modern devices deliver an electrical pulse that is temporary, and their effectiveness depends on the location of the electrodes and their ability to reach the muscle trigger points.

Most of the human body’s muscles are controlled by signals from the nervous system. When an attacker is shocked with a stun gun, the electrodes capture the alpha motor neurons that control the muscles. [3] The electrodes can cause pain compliance and temporarily paralyze the victim.

The stun gun’s barbs ionize the air to establish a conductive path for the current. This initial arc phase delivers 50 kilovolts, and the voltage quickly drops to about 1300 to 1500 volts once contact is made with conductive flesh. This allows the barbs to immobilize the target for a period of time, usually less than two seconds.