Columbia Missourian
Tasers: The debate goes on
November 28, 2008 | 12:06 p.m. CST
Imagine 50,000 volts of electricity running through your body for five seconds, the standard length of each burst by a Taser gun.
Muscles contract uncontrollably, pain shoots through the body and breathing becomes labored. You drop, dazed and disoriented, to the ground.
Police departments around the globe have adopted the Taser, an electroshock weapon, as a way to subdue an attacker without resorting to force that may be more lethal.
Like other cities, states and countries, Columbia is in the middle of a debate about when and how Tasers should be used by police as a less dangerous way to handle a potentially threatening situation.