TASER XREP Is NOT A Shotgun Round. Per Se.

According to wbay.com, the Green Bay (WI) police are adopting the TASER XREP round. I didn’t see anything wrong with their story. But then I don’t work for TASER’s PR department. Steve Tuttle does. What’s more, he points out that the distinction between a shotgun round and a TASER XREP round is the difference between life and death. Literally. “I’ve worked here for 16 years,” Tuttle told TTAG. “In that time, I’ve seen police load the wrong (i.e. lethal instead of non-lethal) round into a shotgun about a half dozen times. In one case, they shot a poor kid in the chest and killed him.” That’s one of the main reasons why TASER joined forces with Mossberg to create an all-yellow, non-lethal, X12 shotgun; a weapon that can’t fire regular shotgun rounds. (The firing pin doesn’t penetrate a non-TASER round deep enough to ignite the primer.) Question: why aren’t more police departments buying the X12 (instead of using “old” pump-action guns, some of which they paint in bright colors) and why are X12 sales restricted to law enforcement? Money and . . . we’re looking into it. Meanwhile, here are Mr. Tuttle’s correx . . .

Dear Sarah,

I just read your story with interest. I just wanted to clarify the specifics on the TASER XREP™.

For clarification, the TASER XREP is a self-contained, wireless electronic control device (ECD) deployed from a 12-gauge pump-action that is packaged in a shotgun shell. The XREP delivers a similar NMI bio-effect as our handheld TASER® X26™ ECD, but can be delivered to a maximum effective range approaching 100 feet (30.48 meters).

The XREP projectile autonomously generates NMI for 20 continuous seconds. The battery supply is fully integrated into the chassis and provides the power to drive the XREP projectile engine and thereby “wireless” compared to traditional hand held TASER ECDs.

If possible, updating your story with the following edit will make the story accurate with the items in parenthesizes:

Green Bay police officers have a new weapon they’ll begin carrying soon. It looks like a shotgun (round) but fires something completely different — something designed to protect both the officer and a suspect from serious injury.

It looks like (it could be deployed from a shotgun1). In fact, it is (delete “is” and replace with: “can be deployed from 12-gauge pump-action”) and can fire standard shells, but it can also fire special Taser rounds (delete “, but it can also fire special Taser rounds”).

FYI: the sentence as written was inaccurate as the XREP isn’t a shotgun per se. It is a electronic control device packaged in a shotgun round. Green Bay PD can deploy this from their pump-action shotguns just as they can deploy a regular deadly shotgun round.

I’ve attached a photo of what the TASER XREP looks like. I just wanted to make sure the readers didn’t the TASER XREP was an actual “shotgun.”

Sincerely,
Steve Tuttle
Vice President of Communications