Puerto Rico Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

More on Taser Guns

The Wall Street Journal Online (paid subscription required) has an article under its Shareholder Scoreboard dated February 28, 2005 on Best 3-Year/1-Year Performer: Taser International, which details the remarkable growth Taser stock has enjoyed, but also indicates that safety concerns (see our February 12, 2005 post On Taser Guns) are becoming a problem for the company, which manufactures Taser Guns.

Some have made a fortune on Taser International stock. As WSJ indicates:

With a total return of 361.1% in 2004, the value of $1,000 invested at the end of 2003 rose to $4,611 a year later. A similar investment in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index would have risen to $1,109.

Over three years, Taser's stock returned a compound annual average of 202.3%. The value of $1,000 invested in Taser at the end of 2001, the year the company went public, would have been $27,623 on Dec. 31, 2004, compared with $1,112 for the S&P 500. As good as it was, last year's return paled compared with the 1,938.7% return that Taser handed investors in 2003, when its market capitalization wasn't big enough to be included among the 1,000 companies in the Scoreboard.

Those are formidable figures by any account. But Taser stock has plunged nearly 50% this year as the safety concerns, stockholders suits over alleged misrepresentations as to the safety of Taser Guns, and the SEC's launching of an informal inquiry into Taser's public statements about its products' safety and its dealings with a large distributor take a toll on the company's momentum.

The article quotes Brian Ruttenbur, an analyst at Morgan Keegan in Nashville, Tenn.:

"A year ago, there were safety concerns, but investors didn't care that much because revenue was picking up," Mr. Ruttenbur says. "Once momentum turns against you, everything gets piled on. Taser is a momentum stock that has broken." 

If the safety issues that have been raised as to Taser Guns hold any  truth (and even some police departments are worried that they do), then Taser Guns and like products should be taken off the market. Taser International vows that  it stands by studies as to the guns safety, and that it will defend itself vigorously from the lawsuits.

My primary concern about Taser Guns and like weapons is that they are there to be used as an alternative to firearms, but that  officers may be tempted to use them in situations were they would never dream of using a firearm simply because they figure the Taser Gun is safe.

On Taser Guns

Only lawsuits may stop the use of Taser guns.  The New York Times has published today on Chicago Rethinks its Use of Stun Guns, by Monica Davey and Alex Berenson, detailing Chicago Police's and City Council's reaction to two incidents involving the use of Taser stun guns.

Philip Cline, Chicago's police superintendent, promptly said he would not send 100 new stun guns out with his officers, as he had planned to in the next few weeks, until the incidents had been thoroughly studied.

And Edward M. Burke, the chairman of the City Council's finance committee, called on city leaders to go a step further and stop using any of the 200 Tasers that Chicago police sergeants already carry, at least for the moment.

Mr. Burke's concerns apparently are due to his role as Chairman of the City Council's finance committee, and concerns over lawsuits:

"Until the results of the investigations are finalized," Mr. Burke said Friday, "the use of these ought to be restricted and put on hold. And I say that as chairman of finance. Once we are put on notice like this, the liability that then is created is substantial."

As the article goes on to state:

Chicago's sudden debate over Tasers, paralleling those that have cropped up in other cities, carries with it a central irony: top police officials here began considering the use of Tasers several years ago as a way to reduce the number of fatal police shootings with ordinary guns. Yet here they were now, wrestling with what effects Tasers, their nonlethal alternative of choice, might actually be having.

The article reports that "nationally, more than 100,000 police officers carry Tasers," and that "almost 100 people have died after being shocked with Tasers, often after they received multiple shocks. In some cases, medical examiners have mentioned Tasers as a possible factor in the deaths."

Sales of Tasers have slowed since last fall, as human rights groups and scientists have questioned their safety.

Taser has said the deaths are unrelated to the gun and would have occurred in any event because of other factors like drug overdoses. But scientists who have examined the company's research say it is spotty and inconclusive. The company's primary safety studies on its most powerful weapon consist of shocks administered to one pig and five dogs.

Taser's stock has plunged since Tuesday, when the company said that its sales and profit for the fourth quarter of 2004 had fallen short of analysts' forecasts. Taser shares closed Friday at $13.50, down 92 cents. They dropped 19 percent for the week and have fallen 57 percent so far this year.

So it may be that only lawsuits will bring an end to the use of Taser guns.  It is difficult not to think that an officer carrying a Taser gun would not tend to use it more frequently under circumstances in which s/he would not even think of shooting someone with a regular gun.