Are you taking into consideration buying TASER weapons for self defense purposes, but not knowing whether or not these weapons are really lethal is keeping you from making a decision? Maybe you are amid thousands of people who explore the world-wide-web daily for a transparent and authoritative answer…only to stumble on conflictive conclusions about the subject matter. Search no more. We got the response deciphered for you.

Can TASER weapons kill? The most educated answer is: "not really". Emergency medicine researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine (working together with investigators from the Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, Louisiana State University, and University Medical Center in Nevada) studied nearly 1,000 cases of TASER products use throughout the United States. Their research results exposed that there were either no physical damage or only mild injuries (scrapes and bruises) in the vast majority of the cases (99.7%) of TASER products' employment. Though there were indeed two incidents of head injuries (caused by falls) and still one case in which someone was hospitalized with a condition "of unclear relationship to the TASER", these three occurrences altogether constituted only 0.3 percent of the total number of cases (these research results were offered in 2007 at the American College of Emergency Physicians’ Research Forum in Seattle, Washington).

In spite of these facts, you may still ask yourself about those cases in which individuals have really passed over after being subjected to the TASER product's electric discharge. Although those lamentable incidents are totally irrefutable, later investigations have exposed that there is no conclusive data to defend the belief that TASER self defense weapons actually caused those deaths, a conclusion that harmonizes with the research results of a report published in 2008 by the U.S. National Institute of Justice ("Study of Deaths Following Electro Muscular Disruption: Interim Report"). In most cases it hasn’t been comprehensible if disproportionate police force (combined with the physical stress that comes with the verbal altercation, physical struggle or physical restraint) has been the responsible factor.

The same research established that no medical proof exists to support the belief that TASER self defense products may bring on cardiac dysrhythmia when deployed reasonably. Nevertheless, the medical risks of repeated or uninterrupted electric discharges are still unspecified, so the TASER product should be used that way only for self defense situations in which your life (or that of a family member) is in serious danger, and when the benefits of using it repeatedly or continuously far outweighs the probable risks for the criminal.

That issue is even more significant when considering the wellbeing of assailants who suffer heart conditions and/or other medical problems: although there are no authoritative answers on their specific case, these individuals are still considered to be the most susceptible to the effects of these self defense devices.

Nonetheless, you must ask yourself: What are the chances of someone with a heart condition attacking you, anyways? Perhaps too low to be worried about…specially in any circumstances in which your life might be at danger.

Would you actually doubt using TASER self defense weapons against someone who is threatening to murder a dear family member of yours, just because he (the offender) might perhaps have a heart condition? In our judgment, your protection must always be your first interest anyways, since the one who might go to meet your maker or be gravely harmed is YOU (or your loved one), NOT the aggressor.

We must make clear that we certainly have a great respect for all life and believe in the possibility of criminals to be reformed. However you should remember that self defense is your basic human right, too. Your life (and that of your family members) should be respected and taken care of too.

Death by TASER self defense weapons is not the most probable outcome for the criminal who is willing to endanger your life, as studies have exposed. Instead, secondary accidental injuries might be a more probable outcome, although those injuries are not thought to be completely attributable to the TASER’s electric stimulation. For example, the criminal may fall down to the ground after receiving the electric shock, and may endure impact injuries, bruises, cuts and abrasions. The assailant might also suffer muscles or tendon tears, as well as stress fractures, as a result of muscles contractions. But if you hold yourself back from using a TASER because of that…what are you going to use instead?

If we turn to common sense we will find that those secondary injuries may also result from using any other style of self defense tactics. For instance, a criminal may fall down to the ground and suffer impact injuries after the would-be-victim used his martial arts skill to defend himself/herself. With a firearm you can even murder the provoker, which is even worse. A non lethal TASER device is definitively a more effective and trustworthy self defense weapon as opposed to all of the above. And since it was the assailant who put your life in jeopardy in the first place, it would not be reasonable to let a criminal destroy you (or a family member) just to guard him from falling down and suffering some fractures.

Moreover, it must be taken into account that ANY weapon, used the wrong way, can probably kill somebody. A baseball bat can be used to kill somebody. A pencil can kill somebody, used to stab your opponent. Many more criminals have died as the result of being attacked by the defender with shotguns and knives, regardless of the existence or absence of medical problems. In the worst case scenario, TASER self defense weapons are less lethal methods of defending yourself, your relatives…and the offender himself.

TASER self defense weapons have been tested on thousands of police officials and voluntary citizens, without creating any dangerous health issues (if TASERS were lethal weapons, police officers wouldn’t consent to take part in these trials, would they?). Nonetheless, you must remember that police officers are experts, and they have taken all the indispensable safeguards during these experiments, so please, do not try it at home. TASER weapons are not toys, but serious self defense weapons.

In conclusion: Are TASER self defense products designed to kill? Our informed opinion is NO…at least not in the vast majority of cases. However, we greatly suspect that in your darkest hour, in a situation in which your life (or that of your loved ones) might be in mortal danger, you will not be questioning whether or not TASER weapons are lethal. You will even wish you had bought one just in time…before it was too late.