The Stun Gun

On May 4, 1970, the National Guard killed four students and wounded nine others at Kent state university during a protest. The Kent state massacre sparked up huge debates and protests all over the United States about gun usage by the police forces. And through this event came the stun gun. The stun gun was also the topic my group had chosen for our case study relating to engineering in my first year experience class.

After this devastating event, Bob Mawhinney a mechanical engineering graduate from Auburn University realized that law enforcement had no weapons stronger than a punch but weaker than a gun. He took on the challenge of creating a weapon that would be able to subdue its target without causing injuries.

Before he started his experiments and calculations, he first researched various weapons and their degrees of injuries. Some of the weapons he researched on were bolas, Dogs, Barbed wire, Stenches, smoke, Chemicals, Electrified Devices, Baton, etc. Through this research he was able to find some vital characteristics that helped him create this specific type of weapon. These characteristics were: velocity, mass, diameter, impact area, kinetic energy and momentum. After establishing these characteristics he decided that this model weapon would have the power of a fast pitched ball and also be able to conform to the body’s shape on impact. That was how he came up with the bean bag type projectile weapon but today they are known as flexible baton rounds instead of stun guns.

The stun-gun was 1st tested on dummies, then tested on a live target. Although, there was some inaccuracy and a bruise, there was no permanent damage. The stun gun was a success and is still because it is by far the most common less lethal rounds used.