Electric shock STUN weapons Omega has recorded a total of 95 Chinese companies involved in manufacturing or trading in electric shock stun weapons. Chinese companies manufacture an increasing variety of such weapons, including electric shock stun guns, electric shock stun batons and electric shock stun shields. The high voltage electrical shock from these instruments is applied directly by hand to an individual, incapacitating them. Electric shock stun weapons deliver variable shocks, depending on the voltage and amperage, the length of time for which they are applied, the physical condition of the victim and environmental conditions. The manufacturers of electric shock weaponry argue that their products are not lethal. But deaths have been associated with the use of stun weapons.37 © Robin Ballantyne right: Chinese electric shock stun batons bottom right: Chinese electric shock stun spiked shield below: Chinese electric shock stun guns © Robin Ballantyne © Robin Ballantyne Chinese firms also make projectile electric shock stun guns, similar to dart-firing “taser” stun guns made in the USA. These weapons are designed for law enforcement officials to incapacitate an individual who is posing a serious threat of violence in a stand-off situation. They work by firing darts attached by electrical wires to the launch device at an individual, and can be used from a distance of several metres. The design of most of these dart-firing weapons includes a switch to enable them to also be used as direct contact electric shock stun guns. Inherently abusive stun weapons Electric shock stun guns and batons: These weapons are widely manufactured and used in China. The instruments’ incapacitating electrical shock is applied directly by hand to an individual. Amnesty International and Omega consider direct contact electric shock stun batons and stun guns to be inherently abusive weapons. It is easy for an officer to use such an electrical weapon to apply extremely painful shocks by hand at the push of a button, including to very sensitive parts of the body of a person held in custody, such as on their neck, throat, ears, underarms, groin and genitals, without long-lasting physical traces. Moreover, such weapons can be used to inflict repeated or prolonged 10 China’s Trade in Tools of Torture and Repression Amnesty International – Index: ASA 17/042/2014