Stun Guns: Difference between revisions

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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has two types of damage: Physical and Magical. Physical damage can kill you, while Magical damage will only knock you out at most. The latter is the reason why Nanoha can [[Defeat Means Friendship|make friends by]] [[Stuff Blowing Up|blowing them up with a]] [[Wave Motion Gun|high-powered magical beam of pure energy]]. This works even when [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|the entire area around you is destroyed]]. In [[The Movie|the third movie]], Nanoha ''explicitly'' sets Raising Heart to stun.
* Several anime (''[[Lost Universe]]'' and ''[[Gasaraki]]'' immediately come to mind) treat rubber and plastic rounds this way, as somehow enacting the [[Instant Death Bullet]] without the death, rather than just ''hurting''.
* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'''s Shion Sonozaki has a habit of knocking people out with tasers, often by pushing it very hard into their ''neck''. She has never given anyone more than a few hours of unconsciousness (at least, [[Torture Cellar|that's all she's done with the]] ''[[Torture Cellar|taser]]''...).
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== [[Live -Action TV]] ==
* In the 1963 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial "The Daleks", the Dalek's weapons are shown to have a secondary 'stun' function which is used on one of The Doctor's companions. However, it should be noted that the blast does not render him unconscious, it only temporarily paralyzes his legs.
** In their defense, Ian was pretty [[Just for Pun|stunned]] when they blasted him.
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{{quote|'''Jack''': "This is for Ianto! Risen Mitten, Life Knife, and that old classic...[[Punny Stuff|Stun Gun]]!"}}
* ''[[Lost]]'''s Others have weapons similar to tasers, with multiple settings. They also have dart guns, whose darts inflict an electrical shock that can kill or merely incapacitate a victim.
* Phasers in the '''[[Star Trek]]''' franchise developed with the times.
** [[Star Trek: The Original Series|The original series]] featured a ''stun setting'' (which would handily knock out any non-[[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|godlike]] humanoid) and a ''kill setting'' which would [[Disintegrator Ray|make things go away]] (unless, again, the target was just plain immune). "The Man Trap" and "The Conscience of the King" featured lethal settings that left a body, [[Bloodless Carnage|with no visible damage, as per typical television standards of the time]]. Something similar may have featured in "What Are Little Girls Made Of", when an [[Ridiculously-Human Robots|android]] has a hole shot in it, revealing its electronic workings. Ironically, this is the first episode to show disintegration. On the other hand, phasers also could heat rocks (or heat coffee) as a story might allow, which might have involved a special ''toast'' setting unmentioned in the canon media.
*** An intermediate "Heat" setting was mentioned in the [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|TNG]] Technical Manual... but TNG is not TOS.
** After ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country|The Undiscovered Country]]'', it became canon that movie-era phasers on Stun could kill at point blank range (to the head). On occasion, phasers have been set to "maximum stun" when facing unusually tough enemies, which is implied to have a higher risk of killing someone.
** Scriptwriter guidelines for ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|The Next Generation]]'' specified hand-phasers had about ten settings, from ''give someone a headache'' to ''vaporize a chunk of granite''. They started making marks on walls around 3 or 4. This was later expanded to sixteen settings, with level 3 capable of knocking an average humanoid unconscious for about an hour and level 7 treated as deadly force.
** Similarly, in one episode of ''[[Star Trek]]: [[Deep Space Nine]]'', we see Miles O'Brien [[Driven to Suicide|contemplating suicide]]. He cycles the phaser through about five yellow settings and then five red settings to what we can only assume is 'Maximum Kill.'
** In the ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' episode "North Star" a mook from a primitive [[Space Western]] society puts a revolver to T'Pol's head, holding her hostage. Reed [[Shoot the Hostage|simply stuns T'Pol]], then the mook while he's still gaping at Reed's apparently ruthless action.
** In ''[[Enterprise]]'', and sometimes ''[[Voyager]]'', phasers and similar weapons can be seen to have no effect ''at all'', maybe causing a slight limp from a shoulder wound (Enterprise pilot). [[Fridge Brilliance|So they work a bit like electrolasers, maybe?]]
** Stun grenades, utilizing phaser technology, have also been featured in ''[[Enterprise]]''.
** In the ''[[Star Trek]]:[[ The Next Generation]]'' episode "The Hunted", certain humans in the military of the planet Angosia are altered to increase their fighting abilities, and are also resistant to phaser stun.
* ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'' uses "tranq guns" a lot (see [[Instant Sedation]]).
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' also make use of Goa'uld-made semi-lethal stun guns, called "Zat'nik'tel" or "Zats": one shot will knock the target out (originally an [[Agony Beam]] but no longer starting around season three), two shots are fatal, and three shots completely vaporize a body or a light object. The show's creators later regretted adding the third function, so the Zat never gets used this way anymore.
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* ''[[Red Dwarf]]''. A newsreader reports that "[[Rule of Funny|rubber nuclear weapons]]" (presumably the WMD version of rubber bullets) were used to suppress a riot over the latest virtual reality game.
** A simulant incapacitates the crew with a laser weapon for a period of three weeks. Somehow, this works on all four of them, considering two are flesh and blood, one is a droid and the other is a hologram.
* In the remake of ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]''., Aa flash-bang grenade is used to knock out Tigh and Adama during [[The Mutiny]]; this of course is a weapon developed for anti-terrorist use in [[Real Life]].
* For the most part, the ''[[Law and Order]]'' franchise pretends that stun guns don't exist, seeing as they would suck the drama out of chases and stand-offs.
** To be fair, hitting a person while they run away with a taser (let alone a gun) isn't an easy perspectiveprospect, and trying to take out a crook has a gun to a hostages head with something that makes them twitch a lot isn't the best of ideas. Also of note tasers aren't legal to own in New York.
* ''[[The Tomorrow People]]'' used stun guns, due to the "Prime Barrier" preventing them from killing.
* On ''[[Leverage]]'', Parker loves zapping people with various tasers and other stun guns.
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'''Captain Kremmen:''' No, this is serious. Set them on [[Agony Beam|Cringing Agony]]! }}
 
== [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy]] ==
* Eddie Izzard parodied this once in a routine about less and less damaging settings for Star Trek Phasers: "Limp," "Bit of a Cough," "Depression," "Bad Eyesight," "Ice Cream Van Nearby," "Sudden Interest In Botany," "Water In The Ear After Swimming," and "Left The Oven On At Home."
** By Voyager the default setting seems to be "mildly annoy".
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* "The List of Character Survival Techniques" ([http://home.planet.nl/~jvdriel/survivaladvice.txt v.1.5]) recommends carrying a stun weapon such as tasers and [[Instant Sedation|knockout poison darts]]—sooner or later your teammate ''will'' catch [[Demonic Possession]], [[Hate Plague]] or something. And considering it as a primary weapon, to reduce [[Sued for Superheroics|inevitable]] [[Cycle of Revenge|complications]].
* ''[[GURPS]]|GURPS: High-Tech]]'' has stun guns/batons as well as tasers, they're nearly useless against people wearing anything but normal clothing. By ''Ultra-Tech'' they've been replaced with [[Lightning Gun|electrolasers]].
* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' has stun batons, tasers, stun gloves, etc.
** One of the provisions of DunkelzhunDunkelzhan's will is a large sum of cash for the developer of an effective, safe, stun weapon. 15Fifteen in -game years later, there is still mention from time to time of companies trying to win that prize.
** This is possibly a nod toward [[Gameplay and Story Integration]]. The rules of the game allow for two separate [[Hit Point|damage tracks]]: Physical and Stun. As the name implies, Stun weapons cause Stun damage, but so do things like physical exhaustion (from a long day of work), powerful medications, and [[Cast from Hit Points|casting spells]]. Taking Stun damage in excess of your Stun track will instantly knock you out, but the overflow carries over to physical damage where it is cumulative with existing wounds; if you were about to pass out from stress anyway (9 boxes out of 10 on the Stun track) and had a couple of light PhysicalsPhysical woundwounds (2 boxes out of 10 on the Physical track) and you get hit with an instant-KO shot (10 boxes out of 10 on the Stun track), the Stun overflow can push through and kill you outright.
* TSR's ''Star Frontiers'' game had electrostunners (ranged stunning weapons).
* A relative of the above FASA property, the tabletop ''[[Mechwarrior]]'' RPG features a variety of stun weapons. [[Instant Sedation|Chemical]], [[Static Stun Gun|electrical]], and [[Sonic Stunner|sonic]] stun weapons are available as ranged weapons, though stun batons are also available. An insidious item known as the neural whip could also technically be used to stun victims, but prolonged use could result in crippling injuries and permanent loss of attribute points.
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* In ''[[Total Annihilation]]'' the Arm Spider unit is armed with a stunner, although this is more probably a weapon to disable ''technology''. The spin-off ''[[Total Annihilation Kingdoms]]'' has magical stun weapons used by Aramonian Mage Archers and Verunan Lighthouses. Interestingly, the logo for the stun arrow is an arrow with a pair of magically glowing handcuffs wrapped around it.
* In the later ''[[Commander Keen]]'' games, your weapon is the Neural Stunner. Most enemies stay "stunned" permanently, but some revive after a few seconds.
* ''[[Zub]]'''s gun stuns the enemy, causing it to temporarily float away.
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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* ''[[G.I. Joe]]'', one of the granddaddies of [[Family-Friendly Firearms]], actually showed this... only twice. Once when a character was hit by a laser during a training exercise (and failed to be actually ''stunned'', merely yelping in pain), and once during a closeup of a Joe setting the power slider on a pistol ''from'' "stun" to "max." [[A-Team Firing]] seemed to be their preferred form of less-lethal attack.
* The season 3 finale of ''[[Archer]]'' features "ion pulse" weapons that are supposed to be this. In a bit of a deconstruction, they actually stop your heart and affected persons need immediate defibrillation ("So... 'stun' may be a bit of a misnomer"). Naturally, this doesn't stop [[Jerkass|Archer]] from shooting his co-workers with them anyway.
 
== Other ==
* A cartoon that appeared in one of the science fiction magazines in the 1980s showed a group of ''[[Star Trek]]''-like [[Red Shirts]], with one whispering to another, "I'm setting my phaser on 'tickle'."
 
== [[Real Life]] ==
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* The ''[[MythBusters]]'' once took on the notion of a water-based stun gun, with some success. However, they determined that the device they created was, in fact, more likely to kill anyone you shot with it than to stun them.
** Another note, they could only make it work at all was to fire it from inside giant, specialized lightning generator, and they only had one shot.
* The [https://web.archive.org/web/20101213005320/http://www.taser.com/products/law/Pages/TASERXREP.aspx Taser XREP] (eXtended Range Electronic Projectile) is perhaps the closest there is to a effective multi shot stun gun. Its essentially a miniaturized taser that fits a 12 gauge shotgun. It deploys on contact so its effective range is about 100 feet, more than double to the current stun guns used by police officers. The only real problem with it is that currently its quite pricey at around $100 a round (if you buy a pack), luckily the shells are reusable.
** And if you liked that, you're gonna love the [https://web.archive.org/web/20100327211024/http://www.taser.com/products/law/Pages/ShockwaveLE.aspx Taser Shockwave]. Call it what they will, I call it a Taser Claymore. (no, not [[Claymore|that kind]], although that would also be awesome. [[wikipedia:M18 Claymore anti-personnel mine|This kind.]]
** Taser shotguns caused controversy recently when they were used by British police on fugitive gunman Raoul Moat, who then [[Ate His Gun|killed himself with a sawn-off shotgun]]. The controversy arose from the fact that apparently the Home Office hadn't approved their use, as they're still under testing.
* Stun guns are "pain compliance" weapons. They do not render people unconscious, nor even physically incapacitate them (admittedly, they can cause muscles in the targeted zone to lock up, briefly). Another problem with stun guns is that they require skin contact, and have no Taser-like barbs to penetrate clothing. It is necessary to press both prongs of the stun gun onto skin to complete the circuit and enable the current to flow.