The lemonade is homemade, the canapes piled high and the 50,000-volt stun-gun available in four designer colors. Welcome to the Taser party -- "having the girls round," Arizona-style. Modeled on the innocent Tupperware party, it's a chance to meet, gossip and try out weaponry illegal in seven US states.
Ever since political pundits identified the "security mom" -- the homemaker concerned about safety, local and national -- a new market for self-defense has opened up.
Quick to cash in on these fears is Taser International, which launched its C2 model in the summer. Sold for US$299, it's the size of an iPhone and available in black pearl, titanium silver, electric blue and -- the party bestseller -- metallic pink.
Working alone as an estate agent in the US' third most dangerous state, Caily Scheur wanted to protect herself; she didn't want a gun, afraid the weapon would be used against her. Then she discovered the C2.
"It's for a serious purpose, but it's fashionable as well," she said.
She began hosting parties a month ago after interested neighbors approached her at her son's little league games.
The parties are attended by everyone from young professionals to pensioners, eager to learn more about self-protection and to try the Taser on a cardboard cutout. For obvious reasons, alcohol -- the traditional fuel of Tupperware parties -- is banned.
The events are currently held only in Arizona, but growing interest means that Taser parties will come to six more states by March and the other 36 that allow the devices by the end of next year.
But it will take more than a woman's touch to improve the Taser's image. In September a student who heckled John Kerry was stunned by police in an incident that spawned T-shirts and parodies (catchphrase "Don't Tase me, bro").
Although Scheur insists Tasers aren't fatal -- merely packing "one heck of a wallop" -- Amnesty International says 200 people have died in the US since 2001 after being "Tased."
While Taser International diversifies at home, the British police have placed another order -- although they remain illegal for civilians, meaning Taser parties won't be coming to a street near you.
Or perhaps it's just a matter of time; it took nine years for Tupperware parties to cross the Atlantic.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
The US government has banned US government personnel in China, as well as family members and contractors with security clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens, The Associated Press (AP) has learned. Four people with direct knowledge of the matter told the AP about the policy, which was put into effect by departing US ambassador Nicholas Burns in January shortly before he left China. The people would speak only on condition of anonymity to discuss details of a confidential directive. Although some US agencies already had strict rules on such relationships, a blanket “nonfraternization” policy, as it is known, has
SUSPICION: Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing returned to protests after attending a summit at which he promised to hold ‘free and fair’ elections, which critics derided as a sham The death toll from a major earthquake in Myanmar has risen to more than 3,300, state media said yesterday, as the UN aid chief made a renewed call for the world to help the disaster-struck nation. The quake on Friday last week flattened buildings and destroyed infrastructure across the country, resulting in 3,354 deaths and 4,508 people injured, with 220 others missing, new figures published by state media showed. More than one week after the disaster, many people in the country are still without shelter, either forced to sleep outdoors because their homes were destroyed or wary of further collapses. A UN estimate
OPTIONS: Asked if one potential avenue to a third term was having J.D. Vance run for the top job and then pass the baton to him, Trump said: ‘That’s one,’ among others US President Donald Trump on Sunday that “I’m not joking” about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends at the beginning of 2029. “There are methods which you could do it,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago, his private club. He elaborated later to reporters on Air Force One from Florida to Washington that “I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term
RSS