Tasers legal for self-defense in Virginia

Justin Calandra, an elementary education major, carries something with him that most other downtown bus passengers do not: a 10,000 watt electric control device, better known as a taser.

Neither a license nor training class is required for this gun, just identification and a credit card. Calandra bought his taser online six months ago, because he often rides the bus downtown at night.

“I haven’t had to use it yet,” Calandra said.

Forty-three states allow citizens to carry tasers.

Taser manufacturers say their products are not a deadly force.

“We don’t generate enough power to kill anybody. We don’t even generate a full amp,” said Bill Doss, TASER International, Inc. employee. Doss said the purpose of a taser is to protect life, as it can be a personal self-defense mechanism used by both citizens and law enforcement in place of a gun.

Amnesty International, a worldwide organization that campaigns for human rights, said more than 330 people have died in the United States after being shocked by a taser within the last seven years. The numbers increased from three deaths in 2001 to 39 deaths in 2008.

According to the Taster International Web site, a taser shoots a high-voltage pulse wave. Once hit, about 19 pulses are emitted per second causing a neuromuscular incapacitation temporarily disabling the body’s muscle control.

TASER International requires a background check to ensure that the user is at least 18 years old and not a convicted felon.

“I don’t have a problem with the instrument. It’s the ability to use something like that . which can be used to cause serious injury,” said Jay Albanese, the graduate director of the criminal justice department at VCU.

The ability to be armed, without knowing the appropriate use and limitations of tasers, is worth being concerned about, Albanese said. He said taser use “without any knowledge of how it works, without any knowledge of when (one is) allowed to use force in self-defense” is a problem.

Each state has different restrictions for the use of electronic control devices. Tasers are illegal in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.-but they are legal in Virginia.

Every taser is tested prior to being sent to a consumer, Doss said. Tasers are fired after being manufactured and fired a couple more times before they’re packaged up.

“Would it prevent altercations or robberies because someone pulls out a taser? I’m not sure,” Albanese said. “So I think whatever the answer to that is, we’re speculating.”