Since when did Tasers require a background check?

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  • GBMaryland

    Active Member
    Feb 23, 2008
    954
    MoCo
    Anyone know when purchasing a taser requires a background check??

    I went to go buy one online and all of the sites (it's been years) now indicate that Maryland requires a "background" check.

    I'm confused. It's not considered a firearm, what the heck is this background check?

    GB
     

    Ironnewt

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 24, 2012
    1,416
    Harford County
    Anyone know when purchasing a taser requires a background check??

    I went to go buy one online and all of the sites (it's been years) now indicate that Maryland requires a "background" check.

    I'm confused. It's not considered a firearm, what the heck is this background check?

    GB

    Thank the MD GA. It's been quite a while.
     

    Old Weasel

    Member
    Jan 29, 2020
    77
    Glen Burnie
    Background for Tasers

    When Baltimore City passed an ordinance to "legalize" Tasers/Stun Guns; the City Council added the requirement that sales in Baltimore City required a "Background Check". NICS, Maryland State Police, and Baltimore City Police have all declined to do background checks for Tasers.
     

    Kharn

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 9, 2008
    3,578
    Hazzard County
    I thought Taser (the genuine company) conducted the background check before they shipped your device?
    At one time I thought they conducted a check on all purchasers, maybe that was before the corporation changed hands?
     
    And just exactly how would they deny a person the right to purchase one when it taser is not defined as a firearm? Person may be prohibited from owning a firearm but there are no such regulations that would prohibit someone from owning a taser under any circumstances or did they contrive some clause in the law that says if you're prohibited from owning a gun you're also prohibited from owning a taser?
     

    Kharn

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 9, 2008
    3,578
    Hazzard County
    And just exactly how would they deny a person the right to purchase one when it taser is not defined as a firearm? Person may be prohibited from owning a firearm but there are no such regulations that would prohibit someone from owning a taser under any circumstances or did they contrive some clause in the law that says if you're prohibited from owning a gun you're also prohibited from owning a taser?

    Taser, at the time, would not activate their product if you did not submit to their background check, such as if you purchased it at a retail store of some sort. The product was also traceable to you by the cartridges having confetti printed with serial numbers, so when discharged, the purchaser could be located.
     

    MaxVO2

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Taser, at the time, would not activate their product if you did not submit to their background check, such as if you purchased it at a retail store of some sort. The product was also traceable to you by the cartridges having confetti printed with serial numbers, so when discharged, the purchaser could be located.

    *****I was going to write something similar. Dunno about now, but the confetti thing was something I remember seeing on older models. I'm not sure if that is still done but I was aware of the background check being a requirement for activation, at least for civilian use...

    The Taser has many limitations, but has its uses for sure. I've seen videos of big, enraged people basically shrugging off a Taser - it staggers them a bit but then they just get up like in a horror movie and keep coming. The Taser *could* be made more powerful so it would drop almost everyone if properly deployed, but unfortunately it would also then be lethal to some people and perhaps cause significant injury to others, etc.. Taser had to make a product that was generally recognized as safe when properly deployed to a pretty wide swath of people.

    You put enough juice into someone, they *will* go down or basically just go BBQ and kinda vaporize, or parts of them will.. I think most of South America has DC power (versus AC like here) coming out of common consumer outlets and it was not that uncommon for people to try and cheat the power company and run their own line before the meter, or just somehow basically try and steal power from the power company. Sometimes things didn't go quite as planned and the person doing the wiring messed up something and electrocuted themselves and it left a really really ugly corpse, with parts basically burnt off. I think DC power can cause one to "stick" to a short versus AC power where perhaps one might get jolted away from the source and mebbe not just outright die.

    I know we have a couple of Linemen here on MDS and they can mebbe explain what happens when enough juice goes through the human body, or other animal.. I saw a really odd sign, over some kind of transformer in Argentina that was written in Spanish that basically said "High Voltage, Danger, You WILL die and it will hurt the entire time you are dying", or something like that. I guess people were trying to pirate off power and made some fatal mistakes..

    I don't ever want to be Tased and have been fanatically practicing my "Don't Tase me Bro!!" line for some time now. Oh, and I also don't break the law so that there wouldn't be any reason to Tase me anyway.. So, there's that... :innocent0
     

    Ellegon

    Ultimate Member
    Sep 15, 2012
    1,474
    Parkville
    Since you asked...
     

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    Engine4

    Curmudgeon
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 30, 2012
    6,983
    I didn't know they required one. I bought one thru amazon with no problems.

    Edit- I now see that it can't be shipped here. I thought one of our members got these legalized pretty much everywhere?
     

    GBMaryland

    Active Member
    Feb 23, 2008
    954
    MoCo
    Yeah I previously did the same thing when it was only illegal in Annapolis and Baltimore and I think one other place.

    What I’m trying to ascertain is if in the entire state of Maryland a background check is required to buy a Tayser… Or Amazon is now only bitching about the entire state because Baltimore requires a background check.
     

    rascal

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 15, 2013
    1,253
    Or Amazon is now only bitching about the entire state because Baltimore requires a background check.
    Amazon won't sell gun cleaning supplies to some US jurisdictions and zip codes. They cancelled an order of swab-it foam cleaning bore tips I ordered to DC last year. I got a notice from Amazon that I was attempting to order something "illegal" in my juristic ton.

    Palmetto State Armory will also cancel orders of cleaning supplies, optics (stuff a minor in every jurisdiction in the US is allowed to buy and posses), so it isn't just amazon

    Then again for example even though it is legal to sell ammo to firearms registrants in DC, most major sellers will not even if they will sell ammo to other jurisdictions that require proof of registration/foid/hql etc.
    The internet sellers often err on the side of caution even to the point of being ridiculous.
     

    DanGuy48

    Ultimate Member
    So what about reselling them? My wife got one years ago, C-26 IIRC, at the urging of her employer because of a stalker of the wife of one of the owners. How would we legally sell it?

    (BTW, the stalker was arrested trying to gain entry into their home with a large kitchen knife he had purchased hours before. Last I heard he was in a mental hospital.)
     

    joppaj

    Sheepdog
    Staff member
    Moderator
    Apr 11, 2008
    46,447
    MD
    You put enough juice into someone, they *will* go down or basically just go BBQ and kinda vaporize, or parts of them will.. I think most of South America has DC power (versus AC like here) coming out of common consumer outlets and it was not that uncommon for people to try and cheat the power company and run their own line before the meter, or just somehow basically try and steal power from the power company. Sometimes things didn't go quite as planned and the person doing the wiring messed up something and electrocuted themselves and it left a really really ugly corpse, with parts basically burnt off. I think DC power can cause one to "stick" to a short versus AC power where perhaps one might get jolted away from the source and mebbe not just outright die.

    I know we have a couple of Linemen here on MDS and they can mebbe explain what happens when enough juice goes through the human body, or other animal.. I saw a really odd sign, over some kind of transformer in Argentina that was written in Spanish that basically said "High Voltage, Danger, You WILL die and it will hurt the entire time you are dying", or something like that. I guess people were trying to pirate off power and made some fatal mistakes..

    I don't ever want to be Tased and have been fanatically practicing my "Don't Tase me Bro!!" line for some time now. Oh, and I also don't break the law so that there wouldn't be any reason to Tase me anyway.. So, there's that... :innocent0

    I'm a good example of DC Voltage being safer than AC current. I've been hit by 50kv sitting on a capacitor. It knocked me down and there was an audible "bang". They checked my heart rhythm, but I was fine.

    Current (measured in Amps) will kill. They told us in electronics school that with the right resistance (none); 10 mA was enough to kill. We were also taught that 110v AC was more dangerous than 220v. 110 might not be enough to blow you off the circuit, and then you start taking current. 220 on the other hand should blow you clear. I never cared to test that theory.
     

    CanDoEZ

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Oct 23, 2008
    2,591
    SoMD
    I'm a good example of DC Voltage being safer than AC current. I've been hit by 50kv sitting on a capacitor. It knocked me down and there was an audible "bang". They checked my heart rhythm, but I was fine.

    Current (measured in Amps) will kill. They told us in electronics school that with the right resistance (none); 10 mA was enough to kill. We were also taught that 110v AC was more dangerous than 220v. 110 might not be enough to blow you off the circuit, and then you start taking current. 220 on the other hand should blow you clear. I never cared to test that theory.



    I got zapped by 2 phases of 115vac while checking a generator during a CH-53 ground turn in Okinawa. The test set connector had an internal short... I literally couldn’t let go of it. When I didn’t answer on ICS the pilot looked in the rear view and flipped the switch off. It earned me a burned hand, 2 days of observation at Camp Lester hospital and an honorable mention in the weekly Wing Safetygram message.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
     

    joppaj

    Sheepdog
    Staff member
    Moderator
    Apr 11, 2008
    46,447
    MD
    I got zapped by 2 phases of 115vac while checking a generator during a CH-53 ground turn in Okinawa. The test set connector had an internal short... I literally couldn’t let go of it. When I didn’t answer on ICS the pilot looked in the rear view and flipped the switch off. It earned me a burned hand, 2 days of observation at Camp Lester hospital and an honorable mention in the weekly Wing Safetygram message.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

    Mine was an old AN-SPS-64 radar. The capacitor stored a big pile of volaltage to get the arm started when you first turned it on. The day before I had unhooked all the power, shorted all the caps. That night, somebody else had plugged it back in for a minute and fired it up, then unplugged it again. My own fault, I should have checked everything again before I went fumbling around in there with a screwdriver.
     

    Mr H

    Banana'd
    I didn't know they required one. I bought one thru amazon with no problems.

    Edit- I now see that it can't be shipped here. I thought one of our members got these legalized pretty much everywhere?

    Several members made a concerted effort to get ECDs legalized (maybe it's more accurate to say 'not disallowed';)) in several jurisdictions that were restricting them.

    Our effort in AACo was probably the noisiest, but there are now only a small handful of jurisdictions with EDC restrictions.
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    I think most of South America has DC power (versus AC like here) coming out of common consumer outlets and it was not that uncommon for people to try and cheat the power company and run their own line before the meter, or just somehow basically try and steal power from the power company. Sometimes things didn't go quite as planned and the person doing the wiring messed up something and electrocuted themselves and it left a really really ugly corpse, with parts basically burnt off. I think DC power can cause one to "stick" to a short versus AC power where perhaps one might get jolted away from the source and mebbe not just outright die.

    Nope, no country in the world is using DC for consumer power. Most of South America is 110 volt, 60 Hz, just like the US. Some parts of Brazil are 220 volt.

    Most of the rest of the world (non-Western Hemisphere) is 220 volts 50 Hz, with 3 phase power even into the home. There are a few outliers, like JPana with 100 volt, 50 Hz power.

    But they are ALL AC.

    And yes, you will lock onto an AC line if the current level it high enough (can be as low as 15 mA for children and small women).
     

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