They roam the internet, the sites ruled by nerds and geeks, the angry chess club champs and math wizards. You may have seen them; they are the ones that tell you how to hack PCs and phreak phone lines. Now they have a new sideline - ‘builds’. They can tell you how to make a stun gun in your garage.
This is a new one, following in the footsteps of the home made air gun, the potato gun and various other underground armory items. A cheap disposable camera with a flash capacitor can become a miniature stunner with a lot of know how and a little extra paraphernalia - and with a decent serving of luck you won’t knock yourself out or give your drunk volunteer buddy second degree burns.
"Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: first, a right to life, secondly to liberty, thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can."
- Samuel Adams
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Just because you can figure out how to make a stun gun does NOT mean it is a good idea! There are too many things that could go wrong. The power stored in a flash cameras isn’t that much, but it can still cause a nasty shock and / or burn.
In addition, home-made stun guns are inefficient, clumsy and undependable, so if you are serious about self protection perhaps you had better stick with a professional model. Of course, being able to say “Hey, I know how to make a stun gun” carries a certain amount of prestige, and there is no denying it is a rather clever piece of work.
That said, perhaps you should examine your motives! If you are simply a harmless techie who is planning on testing the device on yourself for the furtherance of science, go for it. If on the other hand, you picture your arch-rival in your mind (or mayhap the neighbors’ dog) - you need help. Fast.
While the sites that show just how to make a stun gun exist, they don’t take into account things like differing skill levels and the possible immaturity of people surfing around looking for something to do! Several teens were suspended in Arkansas in 2005 after visiting one of these sites and constructing their own stun gun out of a length of speaker wire and a disposable camera.
Knowing how to make a stun gun and knowing how to do it safely are two different things, so this type of stunt should really not be tried by amateurs - hackers or not. There is a reason most of the how to videos and even the written instructions you can find begin with a variation of : “Do not attempt this at home - danger - severe injury or death could occur. Professional performing activity; repeat, do NOT try this at home!”
Yeah. Electricity is one of those things. You don’t fool around with it without really knowing what you are doing - and the majority of these proposed hacks are really not worth getting hurt over. Your best bet is to find a reputable outlet online or in your area to purchase your stunning device, and leave the build to people who really know how to make a stun gun!
