The average stun gun volt strength is anywhere from 80,00 to 300,000 volts. A maximum stun gun volt average runs between one and two million volts. Even with such high voltage, the amps produced are quite low, making it difficult to actually stop a person’s heart with a stun gun.
There are always exceptions. Most stun guns are run off of one or more nine volt batteries, and even a nine volt battery can kill, as illustrated by a navy seaman who managed to off himself with a nine volt and a couple of probes jammed through the skin of his thumbs in the mid-nineties.
In most cases, deaths attributed to stun guns refer to an abnormality in the physiology of the victim, such as an enlarged heart, an irregular heartbeat or a heavy dependence on drugs or alcohol. In other cases, death occurred after numerous sequential administrations of a stun, or prolonged stun periods (over five seconds, and up to a minute).
"Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: first, a right to life, secondly to liberty, thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can."
- Samuel Adams
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There have been reports of parents choosing a stun gun as a disciplinary tool, and several children have died as a result of such abuse. This was under extreme conditions and the youth of the victims is believed to have contributed to their deaths. Other cases in which accidental discharge of a stun gun or self administration of a shock took place have also occasionally resulted in death.
On average, however, stun gun volt strength has a slim chance of being dangerous to the average healthy individual - and most state and federal laws bear out that fact by making no differentiation between stun guns that deliver 80,000 volts and those that pack the punch of over a million.
TASER’s are generally considered more dangerous than standard stun guns as the two prongs that shoot out of the weapon can hit far apart on the body, unlike a stun gun in which fixed probes contact the skin only inches apart. The TASER probes could conceivably cause the heart to stop if they landed precisely on either side of the chest causing the current to pass directly across the heart.
In most cases of reported ‘death by TASER’, law enforcement personnel were using the weapon inappropriately or inaccurately, shocking multiple times or for extended intervals. In these cases officers were almost always disciplined or removed, and additional training in the proper use of electrical stunning devices was mandated for the department. In most of the rest of the cases, the victim was shown to have multiple health problems which increased the effect of the TASER on their system, causing death.
The fact remains that when used properly, the stun gun and its cousin the TASER has saved many more lives than it has caused deaths. This is due to the fact that without an alternative, officers are often forced to resort to deadly force to contain dangerous suspects to avoid injury to themselves or innocent bystanders.
This is in no way meant to condone over zealous or reckless actions by law enforcement, police officers - training is definitely needed in how and when to deploy an electronic stunning device and should be strictly adhered to in the field. That said, irrational fear of a stun gun volt levels is unnecessary and non-productive.
