Forget Tupperware, She's Got A Taser Party

These Personal Protectors Deliver 50K Volts, Slip In A Purse, And Come In Fashionable Colors

(AP)  Before she lets them shoot her little pink stun gun, Dana Shafman ushers her new friends to the living room sofa for a serious chat about the fears she believes they all share.

"The worst nightmare for me is, while I'm sleeping, someone coming in my home," Shafman tells the group, drawing a few solemn nods from the gathered women. Shafman, 34, of Phoenix, says she knows how they feel. She used to stash knives under her pillow for protection.

Not anymore, she says, welcoming them to her Taser party.

On the coffee table, Shafman has spread Taser International's C2 "personal protector," a weapon the company is marketing to the public. It doesn't take long before the women are lined up in the hallway, whooping as they take turns blasting at a metallic target.

"C'mon!" she says. "Give it a shot."

Shafman is not an employee of Taser International, based in Scottsdale, Arizona. She is an independent entrepreneur who has been selling the stun guns the way her mother's generation sold Tupperware storage containers.

As a single woman who lives alone, Shafman says she is the perfect pitchwoman for Taser as it makes a renewed push to sell weapons to families.

The company agrees. Taser officials like Shafman's homespun sales tactics so much that they plan to build a living room set at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and have Shafman hold a Taser party for buyers and dealers.

Taser does not expect its dealers to start imitating Shafman. But spokesman Steve Tuttle said company officials think people can learn from her approach.

"When I talk about Taser, I come across as a salesman," Tuttle said. "When you see her it comes across as very real."

Shafman, a freelance construction consultant, said she always had a natural interest in self defense products. She loved the idea of the Taser, which would allow her to stop an attacker from across the room without getting physical.

She tried moonlighting as a door-to-door Taser saleswoman, but years of negative press about Taser made it tough.

"I got tired of being pushed out of people's offices," she said. "Nobody wants to purchase a product that they think is lethal or going to kill somebody."

A lot of people, especially women, need time to get comfortable with a unique product like Taser before they will consider buying one, Shafman said.

So the Taser party was born.

Shafman said she has sold about 30 guns per month at $349.99 (euro238) since her first Taser party on Oct. 15. She does not get a commission from Taser. Instead, Shafman said she gets a discounted dealer rate for the units and keeps the difference.

Taser has been surging on Wall Street two years after the Securities and Exchange Commission concluded its investigation into the company's safety claims and business practices. Its stock more than doubled in 2007 from a low of $7.44 to a high in 2007 of $19.36 a share.

Company officials said they're now selling Tasers in 43 countries and more than 12,500 police agencies in the U.S. are either using or testing their weapons. With its weapons dominant in law enforcement, Taser is turning its attention back to the civilian market.

It launched the C2 in August. Though it packs the same electric punch, the C2 is smaller than the bulky personal stun guns Taser developed years ago, and its sleek exterior makes it look more like an electric razor than a weapon. They are legal in every state but New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Michigan, Wisconsin, Hawaii, and Washington D.C.

Shafman said many of her women customers love that the C2 is small enough to fit in their purses, and that it comes in a variety of colors. When it comes to choosing weapons, she said, a lot of women want them in pink.

"It's a girl power kind of thing," Shafman said.

Amnesty International, which has criticized Taser's assertion that its weapons are non-lethal, frowns on the C2 and any attempt to spread the use of stun guns. Officials with the human rights organization said the weapons are frequently used in excess by trained police, and they are likely to be abused by the public as well.

Mona Cadena, Amnesty International's Western Regional director, said there are already reports of domestic violence using Tasers and other energy weapons.

"Of course, we want to stop violence against women like Dana's saying," she said. "But we also want to ensure that Tasers don't end up causing it too."

Shafman has a quick answer for Amnesty International. If she had a choice of getting shocked or being attacked with a knife, a gun or something else, "I'd much rather be assaulted by a Taser."

And unlike other weapons, she said, Taser forces its customers to submit to a criminal background check before giving them a code to turn on their weapons.

At the party in Gilbert, the shooting goes on into the night as everyone takes a shot.

Lori Busken, 48, is the first in line. Busken, who is single, said she would feel better carrying a Taser than a gun. She did not buy a C2 right away, but she said she is planning to buy one soon.

"It's not heavy," she said after holding the weapon in her hand. "It's great they make them for civilian use. You don't want to kill somebody. You just want to be safe, you know?"

[michellem99-2009]

a taser lady did yer graduate from tupperware to a taser. I won''t atted it..

[cpaide]

sweet design! just hope nobody mixes it up with her vibrator.

[michellem99-2009]

crzmeat it remind me of a guy that pepper spayed a dog. That dog knew he when he walked by. That dog was pissed..Can''t blame the dog. Sure he whined at the time. Yer pepper a person he/she know. I be pissed.

[blackyowe]

Tasers in the hands of the public will end up just like cheap handguns, kids will get ahold of them and tase each other and adults will torture children with them. There are no laws about keeping these away from children are there?

[Krazcarl]

tasers are trash and should be outlawed at least a gun you know will kill a taser just tortures and as the news indicates folks are using these weaponds indicrimanatly think they won''t really hurt no one.I say try it on yourself first then you will rid yourself of it.

[feelfree1]

GunOwnerDan (may I call you G.O.D.?),

Re: "You might want to ban tasers, but the fact is it is much better to get shot by a taser gun than to get shot by a gun."

I doubt that this is much of a consolation to the victims and survivors of the nearly 300 dead, as a result of Taser related injuries.

You make it sound like a bullet is the only possible alternative to Taser deployment. It is now fairly routine for our officials to use these weapons, and in most Taser cases that I am familiar with, I don''t think that these officials would have fired their sidearms at their victims instead, unless they are even more out of control than I had previously thought.

These Taser torture devices are of highly questionable value, in my opinion.

[gunownerdan]

You might want to ban tasers, but the fact is it is much better to get shot by a taser gun than to get shot by a gun. Luckily it is still legal for good citizens to make the decision themselves about what type of self defense tool works best for them.
www.a-human-right.com
www.taser.com

[erasmus6]

Tasers have a setting that is way too high. They need to be made with a lower setting or made to be adjusted.

The police should have the adjustable ones and the general public should only be able to buy ones that have a lower setting. Strong enough to set someone back for a minute but not to kill.

[erasmus6]

I should get one. Then I should come down there and use it on the people that don''t vote for HILLARY.

Did I just say that? Geez and I am always accusing you Americans of bringing politics into a subject that has nothing to do with politics. You guys must be rubbing off on me.:)

[amazedd]

does it come in marshmellow-yello''?

[random_radar]

Light weight, less lethal, easier to use than guns. Tasers are great for women who want to defend themselves. More power to them!

[gunownerdan]

"I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand."
-- Susan B. Anthony

Self Defense
A-HUMAN-RIGHT.com