By Michael V. Copeland
LAS VEGAS — What’s the best music to accompany getting incapacitated by a Taser? Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” maybe, or The Doors, “The End.” That’s what is running through my mind as Tom Smith, chairman and co-founder of Taser International prepped me for a little shock treatment therapy today at the Consumer Electronics Show.
For the woman who wants to consolidate her personal protection and music collection, Scottsdale Ariz.-based Taser International (TASR) just launched the C2 encased in an MP3-playing holster. The lightweight (seven ounces) device, about the size of a small stapler, is a full-blown law enforcement-strength Taser that comes in your choice of leopard print ($379.99) or a palette of designer colors, including a brilliant pink and bright blue ($349.99). For dead-eye accuracy it sports a LED flashlight and a laser. You put the red dot where you want it to go, from as far as 15-feet away, press a button and a cartridge of compressed nitrogen shoots two #8 Eagle Claw fishhooks out speeding toward the soon-to-be-in-a-world-of-pain attacker.
And so you don’t have to clutter your bag with your protection and an iPod, Taser now offers a chic $72.99 leather holster that includes a flash-based digital music player with a 1GB capacity. “People today want one device that does it all,” Smith says as he attaches two alligator clips to my leg. “Why not have a music player?” Of course that leads to the question of what songs best suit the well-protected woman (about 60% of of Taser users are women, Smith says).
With a smile still on his face, Smith punches the button on the Taser now connected to my leg, and sends the full-jolt of two, 3-volt lithium ion batteries into my leg. He’s still smiling when a sensation of being hammered on my femur and tibia from the inside gathers momentum, and my right leg begins to buckle. All I can manage is a loud expletive, before Smith stops the torture. “I’ve got the song,” Smith says still smiling. “Can’t Touch This.”
Indeed.
