Spider-Man Webs Vs. Star Trek Stun Guns: The Taser Brothers Are Fighting Over A $7 Billion Market To End Police Killings
11:50am EDT| Rick and Tom Smith introduced the world to the Taser in the 1990s. Now the siblings compete in a $7 billion market for non-lethal weapons, at a time of intense scrutiny of police violence. In December, police in Fruitland, Maryland, responded to a report of a man in distress. They’d had to deal with him before: His seizures caused him to become violent with his family. Rather than reaching for a Taser or using physical force, they turned to a device called Bola Wrap. When the officer fired, a Kevlar rope exploded from his hand like a web from Spider-Man's wrist and wrapped itse...