Tasing is hot these days; at least, among the US Marshals Service and the agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

An illuminating new assessment by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General reveals trends in the use of non-lethal weapons by federal agents. Citing an increasing involvement with battling street crime, ATF officials report the use of the Taser has steadily increased in recent years. ATF agents used a Taser only twice in 2005. This increased to nine times in 2006, 14 times in 2007 and 21 times in 2008. Except for something called a "baton launcher," no other non-lethal weapon saw such an increase in ATF use.

The US Marshals Service, likewise, increased use of the Taser, from eight times in 2006 to 138 times in 2008. This reflected a turning away for the old pepper spray standby.

Is it effective? Maybe not. The investigators note:

"The (Marshals Service) had not attempted to quantify the positive impacts (if any) from its increased use of the Taser, specifically, whether subject or officer injuries had decreased because Deputy Marshals deployed the Taser instead of using physical force."