Electroshock weapons can be lethal!

{\it Electroshock weapons} (EWs)$-$stun guns, tasers, riot shields$-$are electroconductive devices designed to {\it safely} incapacitate healthy men neuromuscularly, so they are called {\it nonlethal} or {\it less-lethal}. EW firms seeking large {\it nonmilitary} markets targeted law enforcement and corrections personnel, who began using EWs in prisons/jails and on public patrol in 1980 in the USA. This shifted the EW-shocked population from healthy soldiers to a heterogeneous mix of both sexes, ages 6-92, in a wide variety of health conditions! An EW operates by disrupting normal physiological processes, producing transient effects in healthy people. But if a person's health is sufficiently compromised, the margin of safety can be lost, resulting in death or permanent health problems. 325 people have died after EW shock since 1980. Did the EW {\it cause} these deaths? Evidence indicates that EWs {\bf do} play a causal role in most such deaths. EWs can be lethal for people in diabetic shock$^1$ (hypoglycemia), which may be why Robert Dziekanski$-$a Polish immigrant to Canada$-$died so quickly after he was tasered at Vancouver Airport: not having eaten for over 10 hours, he likely was severely hypoglycemic. The EW death rate in North America is 30 times higher than need be, because EW users have {\bf not} been properly trained to use EWs on a {\bf heterogeneous} population {\bf safely!} \\ $^1$J. Clinical Engineering {\bf 30}(3):111(2005).