November 10, 2005
The Pen is Mightier than the Sword?
I've been seeing a resurgence in stun gun products, mostly due to the new "pen" form factor:
Not like this really helps. I wrote about the effectiveness of stun guns in my article on less-lethal weaponry and their use in a force continuum. I still think they're lame.
If you're close enough to someone to touch them with a pen stun gun, why not just poke them in a pressure point with a real pen? (Former or current residents of our nation's penal system will know that a sturdy pen or a simple No. 2 pencil, given a good sharpening, is a lethal weapon, but such implements are pretty innocuous to us folks on the Outside).
Pepper spray is much more useful, due to the maai or distance factor. The pen-form factor pepper spray is old hat these days. But how much range do you get from the perfume mister delivery mechanism?
Now the stun gun thing could come in handy if it was merely an option on an electronic device you're already carrying all the time. Like your cellphone or PDA. You already have electrical power, and a reason to be holding it in your hand/carrying it on your belt.
It could even be just a software/firmware hack. Like you cause the battery to discharge through the charging port at the base of the handset. I'm surprised Make hasn't tried this yet.