Electroshock weapon

An electroshock weapon (sometimes referred to, imprecisely, as an electronic weapon or electrical weapon; and generically known as an electroshock device) is a type of less-than-lethal weapon that functions by delivering an electric shock to a target. Various sub-types of electroshock weapons exist and, depending upon the jurisdiction and specific technology or design in question, these devices are officially categorized by law enforcement and regulatory bodies as conducted energy weapons or conducted electrical weapons, and rarely as conducted electronic weapons (CEW); or as conducted energy devices or conducted electronic devices (CED). Colloquially, electroshock weapons are frequently referred to by the brand name Taser, or are broadly termed stun guns; stun guns and Taser devices are, however, separate types, and entirely different forms, of electroshock weapon.

Electroshock weapons are engineered to pass electric current through a target with the aim of temporarily disturbing muscle function and inflicting pain, usually without causingsignificant injury. Their disorienting, motor-disrupting, and—in the case of powerful projectile electroshock devices—immobilizing effects, as well as their usually less-than-lethal design, make them a common option for use both in personal self-defense and by law enforcement officers in administering an intermediate level of force.

Numerous different types of electroshock devices exist. Stun guns, stun batons (sometimes also called stun prods or, simply, prods), cattle prods, shock collars, and stun belts (also called shock belts) administer an electric shock by direct contact, whereas Tasers are capable of firing projectiles that administer the shock through dart probes attached to flexible wires. Long-range self-contained electroshock projectiles that can be utilized as specialty ammunition, such as standalone electroshock rounds fired from ordinary shotguns, have been developed; these niche missiles do not require the connected wires found in Tasers.

Though the two terms are often either misapplied to refer to all electroshock weapons regardless of category or are used interchangeably, stun guns and Tasers are distinct forms of electroshock device. Stun guns are direct-contact weapons that work primarily to induce localized pain, thereby compelling pain compliance, and otherwise by locally affecting the sensory nervous system; stun guns can additionally cause some degree of muscular disruption, but that effect generally requires 3–5 seconds of direct contact to be made with the activated device. Meanwhile, the metonomously-named Taser is, by comparison, designed to function primarily as a long-range weapon, firing projectiles in the form of barbed darts attached to long wires intended to fully incapacitate the target by disrupting voluntary muscular control through the motor nervous system. However, some 'hybrid' models of Taser blur this distinction, as they are capable of delivering a "Drive Stun", a pain compliance technique involving placing the weapon in direct contact with the subject's body and discharging a shock without firing the probes.