Democratic Underground - Taser's patent says it is a weapon

An excerpt from the Description of the Drawings portion of the issued patent for Taser International's Hand-held stun gun for incapacitating a human target a.k.a. a "taser."

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=8&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&S1=taser.ASNM.&OS=an/taser&RS=AN/taser

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other further and more specific objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description thereof, take in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a dart weapon constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block flow diagram of components of the dart weapon of FIG. 1 illustrating the mode of operation thereof; and,

FIG. 3 is a block flow diagram illustrating an alternate embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 represents a chart comparing the pulse width in microseconds and the RMS current in milliamps of the inventive stun gun to the pulse width and output current levels of prior art stun guns.

And, Taser International's first press release from 2001 announcing their IPO, says, in part: TASER International, Inc. develops, assembles and markets less-lethal, conducted energy weapons primarily for use in the law enforcement and corrections market. Over 400 police departments in the United States have made initial purchases of the Company's products and 15 police departments, including San Diego, Sacramento and Albuquerque, have purchased the Company's products for every patrol officer.

If that's not enough, TASER "is actually an acronym for the Tom A. Swift Electronic Rifle, named for a sci-fi character admired by John Cover, who first developed the modern Taser in the late 1960s and early 1970s." http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/201819_taserhistory01.html

Earlier in the same article quoted directly above

It began as a search for a device that could stop an aggressive assailant without killing.

Now Taser International, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., is a multimillion-dollar company providing Tasers to thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country and military units around the world.

***

Taser International founders Rick and Tom Smith began thinking about the device after they tried to buy their mother a firearm for self-defense, and she refused to take it.

Since Taser Int.'s original market was the law enforcement community I think it is a safe bet that it was marketed as an alternative weapon. Whether or not they implicitly marketed it as a weapon to the law enforcement community is immaterial because the taser was invented for use as a weapon and named for a scifi character's rifle. The founders of Taser Int. basically founded the company because they were worried about their mother's safety and wanted to provide her a method of self-defense.

Beyond all of this, a weapon, by its very definition is something used in confrontations against another person. Weapons can be words or an object. In other words, if a person uses a word(s) or an object(s) against another to subdue, injure or otherwise cause them harm then they have used a weapon. In comparison, a remark made in jest but taken wrongly by another doesn't have the prerequisite of the intention of causing injury nor does the accidental firing of a gun that kills someone. Is a gun a weapon when it is stored in a box? Or does it become a weapon when it is used against someone?

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