the.com/stun gun
A handful of lightning that turns a body's own muscles into a mutiny.
means A handheld device that delivers a high-voltage electric shock to incapacitate a person by disrupting their muscle control, used for self-defense or law enforcement.
from A transparent compound of two old English-rooted words. 'Stun' descends from Old French 'estoner' — to astonish, to strike senseless — itself from a Latin source meaning 'to thunder' (a cousin of 'astonish' and 'detonate'); 'gun' is an old word with a famously odd backstory, possibly shortened from a medieval woman's name, Gunnhildr, jokingly bestowed on a siege engine. The two married in the late 20th century when the technology arrived to make the idea literal.
- voltage vs current
- Volts dazzle, but tiny amperage does the real work
- muscle hijack
- Disrupts the electrical signals that command your muscles
- contact required
- Unlike a taser, it must touch you directly
- crackle theater
- The visible arc is mostly intimidation, not the payload
- legal patchwork
- Banned or restricted in several states and countries
taser x2 — electroshock weapon adopted by 17,000+ law enforcement agencies in 50+ countries since 2000
conducted energy weapon — generic term for electroshock devices used by police; caused 500+ deaths in us custody 1999-2020