What is the Taser and how it works, the dead of Olbia and Genoa rekindle the doubts about the electric weapon

The Taser, or electric gun, is a weapon with electrical impulses supplied to the police in many countries, including Italy: it works by releasing two darts connected to common threads, which transmit an electric discharge capable of causing an instant muscle contractionwhich temporarily immobilizes the affected person.

The taser is used in high risk situations, As an alternative to the use of firearmswith the aim of containing dangerous people or in a state of strong agitation, but his use is not risky: the case of the man who died in Olbia after the carabinieri had immobilized him with the Taser and another death in Manesseno (Genoa), always following the intervention of the carabinieri with a taser, rekindled the debate. on the safety and consequences of the device.

Recent studies have in fact highlighted the risk of ventricular arrhythmiassudden cardiac arrest and death linked to the use of the Taser, whose use is among other things considered a form of torture by the United Nations Committee and sentenced by Amnesty International for the high abuse potential. However, according to the American company that produces the weapon, the Axon Enterprise, 99.75% of the subjects affected by a Taser would not report significant injuries: this however means that, out of 400 people, one could die.

What is and how the Taser works

The Taser is a gun with electrical impulses produced by the American company Axon Enterprise, whose name derives from the acronym “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle” – Literally” Electric rifle by Thomas A. Swift “, the weapon invented by Tom Swift in the 1911 novel by Victor Appleton.

It is a portable device battery powered which releases high voltage and low intensity electrical impulses through two electrodes, integrated into two small darts connected to the device with two electrical wires and capable of reaching A target also over ten meters away. The most recent models, such as Taser 10, have in fact a range of almost 14 meters and can launch up to 10 couples of darts without the need for charging.

For the operation of the Taser, the darts are not necessary for the clothes to cross: once on the target, between the two electrodes The impetus discharge is issued which prevents the movement of the affected subject, making it contract the muscles. According to the manufacturer, a typical Taser device delivers 19 short impulses per second in 5 seconds: the impulse travels to the muscles and causes Short and supported muscle contractions.

What are the effects of the taser on the human body

The effects of the taser on the human body are mainly neuromuscular natureaimed at immobilizing the affected person for the duration of the electric discharge. The level of current delivered is significantly lower than the level necessary to interfere with the pacemakers, even if the use of the taser it is not exempt from the risks linked to the disbursement of the impulses through the human body.

A study in 2012 published in the magazine Circulation of the American Heart Association has shown that Taser can cause “ventricular arrhythmias, sudden cardiac arrest and even death“By detailed eight cases of sudden cardiac arrest following the use of the device. None of those people clarified the publication, he suffered from manifest cardiovascular symptoms, although some subjects presented non -cardiac medical problemsincluding alcohol abuse, attention deficit disorder and mental health problems.

Two dead in less than 24 hours, doubts about the use of the weapon

In Italy, the Taser has been supplied to the police since 2022 and is used according to specific protocols, at the end of a specific training. Nonetheless, the two deaths recorded at the end of the weeks of August, both following the use of the weapon by the carabinieri, they are not the first to have occurred in Italy. Even last June, in Pescara, a 30 -year -old had died, although he then discovered that the cause of death was linked to a thoracic trauma for a fight and not to the use of the weapon. Two other cases had occurred in 2023 And in 2024.

In the United States, where the Taser is largely employed by the police, they would be beyond 1,000 cases until the end of 2018 in which people died after being affected by the device, almost all from the beginning of the 2000s.

“Many of the victims they had been subjected to multiple shocks – The Amnesty International organization has highlighted on several occasions. Studies and medical experts have noted that the risk of adverse events deriving from the shocks of the Taser is greater in people who suffer from heart problems or with a high heart rate associated with the use of drugs or after a scuffle. Even if the deaths caused directly by the tightens of the Taser are relatively rare, adverse effects can occur very quickly, without notice, resulting impossible to reverse“.