As startling new trend in personal safety is getting some media attention lately, and making people question just how safe they really are. It seems that, these days, almost anyone could be carrying a stun gun, and you probably wouldn’t even be able to recognize it for what it was even if it was right in front of you. Here’s a warning to you: Stun guns are being disguised as cell phones. Read on to learn more.

Making headlines. Cell phone stun guns first began making headlines in airports, when Australian border staff began uncovering a surprising number of the gadgets, designed to look like regular cell phones but pack a powerful punch of voltage. A spokesperson for the border force says that an alarming number of the devices have been coming into the country–88 of them discovered in 2012 alone. Experts speculate that this is a low number due to inconsistencies in reporting procedures. This trend recently made headlines stateside, when a cell phone stun gun was confiscated in a New Jersey airport. The owner was arrested with a weapons charge.

Cell phone stun guns for sale. If you search the web, you might be surprised to find how voluminous your cell phone stun gun options are. The devices are generally believed to derive from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and even the United States. At first glance, they look very much like cell phones; it is only upon closer inspection that you may see that, instead of a “call” button, there is a “stun” button.

Security trend. With personal safety concerns seemingly on the rise, it seems only predictable that we should see some interesting new security devices on the market. The cell phone stun gun is one such trend that is sweeping the states, but we have yet to see how far this trend will get, as it is illegal to carry a stun gun in many states.

The iPad stun gun case. The cell phone stun gun trend appears to only be growing, and even broadening its horizons. Recently, a United States manufacturer by the name of Yellow Jacket announced the release of its iPad stun gun case. The product is legally sold in certain areas of the United States, and the first 3,000 units were just distributed at a suggested retail sales prices of $139, making it surprisingly affordable as compared to traditional stun guns.

How do you feel about cell phone stun guns? Are they just the next logical step in personal protection, or are they presenting more danger than good? It seems that, until legal regulations catch up with technological advancement, we have no choice but to wait and see.

About the Author: Ralph Hawkins is a huge fan of mobile technology, embraces cloud computing, and even uses a call forwarding service at ringcentral.com to monitor his calls. That said, he’s still worried about the way technology has evolved to let dangerous items into the hands of those who might do harm.