WebProNews

An error in a USA Today story about the company's stun gun devices overstated the electrical output by a factor of 1 million.

The USA Today article titled 'TASER Packs Potent but Brief Punch of Electricity' said the device has an output of 2,100 to 3,600 amperes. Those figures should have been .0021 to .0036 amperes.

TASER also complained of the newspaper's usage of various images associated with electricity - an electric chair, a lightning bolt, and an electric train track - being used in comparison with the TASER X26.

A check of the USA Today web site seems to show the article has been removed. An article on the use of TASERs being restricted by schools does appear in a search. That article did not contain the images described by TASER in a press release.

"Given the heightened interest and general lack of understanding by USA Today of the TASER's technology, I can only hope this was the result of a sophomoric mathematical error or the USA Today editors don't understand the simple fundamentals of electricity such as differences between milliamperes (equal to .001 amperes) and kiloamperes (equal to 1,000 amperes) rather than an intentional misrepresentation," said TASER CEO Rick Smith.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.