Stun Guns Considered For Campus Security

College campus personnel are contending with burgeoning security issues. Stun guns are now being brought on campus in spite of injunctions and threats of expulsion, especially at large institutions. As incidents of date rape, dormitory assaults and campus muggings climb, students – especially coeds – no longer rely so heavily on security guards. They are acutely aware of the need to provide at least some kind of protection on their own.

Whereas pepper spray has been the non lethal weapon of choice for the last twenty years, the noxious spray is being replaced by stun guns. Parents who are concerned for the safety of their children are now equipping them with stun guns.

The new generation of stun guns is characterized by smaller sizes and heftier voltage. There is a serious weapon available at virtually every price point. Happily, most of the better quality stun guns are disguised as cell phones, penlights or are so small as to be unnoticed. Powered by two or three Lithium batteries, they are capable of delivering enough of a shock to take down a grown man.

Stun guns work by shocking the subject to such a degree that it causes debilitating pain, but without inflicting any significant damage. Some of the newer, more sophisticated models deliver a “shaped pulse” on demand. It works by first penetrating any clothing and then interferes with the brain’s ability to control the skeletal muscles. The result is predictable: the target just falls down, usually howling in pain, providing an opening for evasive moves or for officials to take him/her into custody.

Because the units are petite, most of them can be carried in a small holster on the belt, making it easy to grab-and-go or to holster and keep close at hand.

Good move.