There are some very serious problems with the X3. In semi-automatic mode while engaging multiple targets, it is very easy for the police officer to deliver either multiple shocks or even multiple prongs (prongs...this is what they call them. I call them barbed meat-hooks) into a single victim. In fact, this happened at the above mentioned gala in Arizona.

Semiautomatic Mode:

...Every trigger pull will deploy a Smart Cartridge until all the loaded have been deployed. This happened during the Master Instructor training program. While demonstrating and teaching tactical operations of the X3, an experienced TASER ECD instructor deployed X3 probes into a Master Instructor candidate. The X3 was in the semiautomatic mode. After telling the candidate to move, the instructor pulled the trigger to reenergize the ECD. The candidate was struck with the second set of probes and reenergized through the first set of probes (recall the X3 was in semiautomatic mode). Yes, you could hear the candidate's loud objections throughout the building. After a very sincere apology, the instructor gave the candidate two " Challenge Coins" - one for each deployment.

Police & Security News (p.55)

The article goes on to report that the settings are confusing and it would be easy for an officer in the field to make this same mistake. The problem is that in the field, the target might not be a healthy police officer but a member of a "High Risk Population". This is double speak for "pregnant, infirm, elderly, small children or low body mass persons". The X3 instruction manual cautions users that these people may have a greater risk of serious injury or death from the use of an ECD.

The X3 manual also warns users to "avoid intentionally targeting the head, throat, known preexisting injury area, chest area or genitals without legal justification ".

The instructors also advise that when shooting people in the back ,to avoid the neck and head areas.

If Master Instructors cannot operate this torture device at a sales convention, it is highly unlikely that a cop on the beat under stress can. If deployed the list of deaths will continue to grow.

July 1, 2009

The total number of people on this list who died after they were tasered has risen dramatically by 18, from a total of 415 yesterday to a revised total of 433 today.

~ TNT - TRUTH ... not TASERS

Of the 152 Taser-related deaths documented by Amnesty International: o Most of those who died in custody were unarmed and were not posing a serious threat to police officers, members of the public, or themselves

o Those who died were generally subjected to repeated or prolonged shocks

o Use of the Taser was often accompanied by the use of restraints and/or chemical incapacitant sprays

o Many of those who died had underlying health problems, such as heart conditions or mental illness, or were under the influence of drugs

o Most of those who died went into cardiac or respiratory arrest at the scene

If this topic is of interest to the community, I will publish another story about how these damned things kill, the training of police public affairs officers on how to use double-speak with the press, and bogus medical conditions like "Excited Delirium" used by the TASER industry to avoid responsibility for many TASER deaths.