TexasCHLforum.com

Hitting someone with a hand-held stun-gun that causes no permanent damage might strike some as a not very serious offense, but aggravated battery is no joke in terms of potential sentencing. Under Florida law aggravated battery is a second-degree felony good for up to 15 years in prison. That’s a legit stretch.

Most of us are probably accustomed to thinking of a stun-gun as a non-deadly weapon, in large part because that’s how these devices tend to be used by law enforcement—as a non-deadly means to compel compliance by a suspect, as opposed to going to the deadly force of a firearm.

In that context, stun guns are, indeed, non-deadly force. A key facet of this application, however, is that the stun gun is being used defensively, rather than offensively. (Such police use of a stun gun may appear to be offensive in nature, but in fact if the use is lawfully justified the “offense” was committed by the suspect being subject to the stun gun.)