Taser's seeming liability deathwish

Man, you really need to question the brain power of these guys.

This is just a few days after the tragic BART incident [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] where a man, already arrested and restrained, was shot to death by police while lying on the platform. Some are suggesting that perhaps the officer in question got confused by his world-class Taser Training and pulled the trigger on his gun, forgetting that he wasn't actually holding his taser. This explanation seems unlikely for various reasons, but all the alternate explanations seem to be even less likely (or more distasteful). So perhaps this gun-taser mixup is the real explanation...

It's not the first time: "...Reports of police officers mistaking a handgun for a stun gun are rare, but not unheard of. In 2006, a sheriff's deputy in Washington state accidentally shot and wounded a disturbed man after mistakenly using his .40-caliber gun instead of his stun gun. ..." [LINK]

Now, just days later, and the future-tragic irony escaping them, Taser is showing off their latest creation - a combination taser and shotgun. [LINK]

[Shakes head in disbelief...]

Liability is sometimes about being aware of a risk and then disregarding it.

Attention Taser - In case you didn't think it through, this combination taser+shotgun will (absolutely positively) lead to tragic deaths when the officer pulls the wrong trigger. Consider yourself having been made aware of this risk. You're therefore potentially partially liable for any subsequent deadly mix-ups. Companies have been bankrupted by much more subtle design errors than this. And this design concept is a sure-fire recipe for tragedy.

Attention Regulators - This sort of combination lethal/(slightly)less-lethal weapons need to be banned immediately. It's a case where you can just see it coming from a million miles away. There is no imaginary universe where this sort of combo gadget will not lead directly to accidental deaths. Ban them. Now.

Attention Police Procurement Officials - Don't even think about it. Stupid is as stupid does.