PlanetMace Blog

How Air Tasers Work

While many people know that air tasers are an effective means of providing non-lethal self defense for common citizens, there are many misconceptions about how these devices actually work. Here is some helpful background information to help you better understand how these reliable devices work, and how you can best select an air taser that fits your self protection needs.

How Does an Air Taser Work?
Air tasers work by firing two barbed darts into the body of an attacker, with electrical wires running from these darts back to the hand held device. The the hand held device contains an amplifier that builds and stores a high voltage charge that is dumped into the body of an attacker, causing their muscles to rapidly burn all the energy in the body, and interfering with the neurological signals from the brain. The combined effect is that an assailant is immediately rendered harmless and disabled for up to 15 minutes.

Do Air Tasers ‘Electrocute’ Their Target?
No, electrocution, as is performed with the electrical chair in death penalty sentences, requires a high amperage current; which essentially means that the sin wave of the current oscillates at a high frequency. This is what causes burning of the muscle tissues and body organs that leads to death in these cases, as well as lighting strikes, but is not the case for air tasers and other stunning self defense items. Rather, a high voltage charge that carries very little amperage

How do Air Tasers Fire Their Darts?
Air tasers fire their darts with compressed nitrogen, stored inside replaceable cartridges that are concealed inside the handle of most air tasers. Once discharged, replacement cartridges can be purchased and installed to make air tasers totally reusable.

How Far Can Air Tasers Shoot?
Air tasers can be shot up to 15 feet, and should ideally be deployed at least 7 feet from the target in order to ensure that the darts are spread at least 6 inches at their points of contact.

How Fast Do Air Taser Darts Travel?
Air tasers typically shoot their darts at around 135 feet per second, which is fast enough to defy inclement conditions and penetrate skin and clothing in order to get a fastened grip on the target.

Can Air Tasers be Used More Than Once?
Yes, the battery can be recharged, and replacement nitrous cartages are available at most sporting goods stores.

Will Cold Weather Affect the Performance of my Air Taser?
Contrary to urban myths, even severe cold conditions will not affect the nitrous containers that produce the force behind the projectile darts. Neither temperature nor altitude are significant forces that could hinder the use of an air taser.

Can Air Tasers Cause a Fire?
While air tasers will not ignite gun powder, it is possible for the spark from an air taser to ignite gasoline or lighter fluid. As such, an air taser should never be used in conjunction with a pepper spray containing alcohol based solutions.

How Are Air Tasers Kept Out of the Hands of Criminals?
Most Air Tasers contain an anti-felon identification system that tracks their use down to each single unit, so once discharged, authorities are able to identify the criminal and the owner of the air taser unit that apprehended the subject. This of course, also deters any improper use of these devices, as they can be easily tracked back to the owner.

What Are the Disadvantages of Air Tasers?
Perhaps the only disadvantage of air tasers, is that in order to work most effectively, the darts should attach themselves to the target at least six inches from each other. This requires that the target be at least 7 feet away from the point of discharge, presenting the risk that the target might be missed due to inaccuracy.

Where Can I Get Training on How to Use an Air Taser?
Your local law enforcement representative will be able to instruct you on where to find local classes and trainers that specialize in personal safety devices such as air tasers, pepper and Mace sprays, and other self defense options.

Air Tasers: The Self Defense Choice of the Future

With violence on the rise in every single one of America’s cities, citizens must arm themselves against assault and robbery with education and defensive devices designed to ward off and disable attackers in the event of an aggressive crime. While pepper spray and Mace are both acceptable forms of non-lethal self defense that can be deployed from a short distance from an attacker, and stun guns deliver the powerful stopping power of a massive electric voltage current, only the air taser can deliver the best of both worlds. With a shocking power that can reach up to 800,000 volts and two projectile prongs that can reach attackers up to 15 feet away, air tasers give law abiding civilians a safe and reliable form of self defense that is effective in a myriad of conditions.

Air tasers are essentially stun guns in the way they disable an attacker. Both use a high voltage, low amperage current to disable an attacker without killing them. Unlike a bolt of lightning, which has an amperage of in the thousands, air tasers carry only about a 3 milliamp charge, and so there is little to no burning or bruising of body tissue. In fact, tasers and stun guns do not work by subduing an attacker through pain, but rather, by taking over control of their body. Essentially, the high voltage current passes into the body of the attacker through one node of the device, and back into the device through the opposite polar node. This interrupts the neuromuscular system, causing the target to lose control over their bodily functions, loose balance, and become incapacitated for up to 15 minutes.

And when they do come to their senses, they will be in no shape to cause any further harm, as their muscles will literally be exhausted of energy and they will likely feel a soreness throughout their bodies. This is caused by the fact that the electrical current that takes over their body causes their muscles to sporadically convulse as the sugar in the blood is rapidly converted into lactic acid. This is essentially what happens when you over exert your own muscles during exercise, only they experience about a marathon’s worth of exercise in a matter of seconds.

The advantage air tasers have over traditional stun guns, is that rather than having the electrical nodes that transfer the current to the attacker placed on the device itself, the taser contains two detachable nodes that can be fired at ranges up to 15 feet with great accuracy. These nodes are attached to lightweight electrical wires and have barbed pointed tips that can attach themselves to targets’ skin and clothing. Once they are affixed, the handheld air taser device can be used to control the flow of electricity delivered through the wires, which allows the defending person to gain a severe control advantage over their aggressor.

Stun guns can also prove to be more effective than pepper spray and Mace in certain situations where climactic conditions are advantageous to self defense sprays such as rain and windy conditions. While the rain does nothing to impede the discharge of an air taser, heavy wind might interfere only slightly, though at that level of wind, spray devices would be utterly useless and might even spray back into the face of the user.

Which displays another feature advantage of air tasers: they work effectively, immediately, and can be deployed from a safe distance from an attacker. Whereas pepper sprays and mace can also deliver effective stopping power at some range, they also take up to 5 seconds in order to completely subdue an attacker, which is plenty of time for a crazed aggressor to inflict some serious damage. And while stun guns are equally capable of immediately subduing a violent attacker, they can only be used at close range, which can be a daunting task against an armed assailant. Only air tasers provide the ability to defend from a distance as well as being capable of immediately disabling an attacker.

While air tasers might be the overall best choice for one-on-one self defense, it’s still important to get yourself properly trained in how to use one of these devices if you want to make sure to optimize the effectiveness of your self protection product. Also it’s important to check with your local law enforcement representative in order to make sure the tasers are legal in your jurisdiction, as some states and counties restrict the sale and use of these devices.

Get smart, get armed, and live with the comfort that you’ve got an upper hand on criminals when you’re carrying an air taser the knowledge of how to use it.