The basic methodology of executive protection (EP) is the prevention of threats and injury to your client. Being prepared also includes having the means to stop a sudden attacker from harming your client.
We must be armed, but not always necessarily with a firearm. In the EP business when and where we can carry a firearm legally is restrictive and its use is only as a last resort. Warning shots are strictly prohibited. In our business the discharge of a firearm is only for deadly force situations (firing only aimed shots).
Brief Background:
Let’s examine the Tasers pros and cons for EP as a less lethal force option, made by Taser International, Inc. Any weapon that can protect your client during a sudden attack is a good weapon.
The Taser is a less-than-lethal weapon. It uses compressed nitrogen to launch two small barbed probes attached by wires and delivers 50,000 volts and each cycle of electrical current lasts five seconds. The maximum effective range of the M26 and X26 (a smaller model) is approximately 35 feet.
Having used the Taser personally; it has good incapacitating and stopping power against an aggressor. The effect on the aggressor being hit by a Taser includes disorientation, the ability to stand, a high heart rate and dehydration.
