At the end of a three-day binge of drugs and alcohol, an angry former lumberjack was confronted by police, and only one thing stood between them – a Taser gun fired by a state police trooper.

The confrontation was triggered by a call to police on Christmas Eve a year ago when a man allegedly pulled a shotgun on his mother and brother. When local police arrived, a New Boston officer who knew the man tried to talk him down. At the very last second, the man was going to charge the officer, when Chief Christopher Krajenka nodded to the trooper to take him down with a Taser.

Since the man did not have the shotgun with him at the time, the officer would not have used a gun to defend himself. Without the Taser, police would have had to wrestle the man under control.

“That sold me, when I observed that, the fact that I can cut liability with regard to injuries,” Krajenka said. “All of us can get our butt kicked. We’re all human. We’re not invincible and knowing that I’ve got officers out there with a weapon that could protect them and keep them from getting injured, I couldn’t be happier.”

The week before Thanksgiving, the New Boston Police Department got its own set of eight Taser guns at a cost of $13,000. There are 126 departments with Tasers in New Hampshire, but New Boston is one of the first smaller ones to acquire the weapons, according to Police Chief Chris Krajenka.

The Tasers New Boston officers carry with them have been substituted for pepper spray, a messy and inefficient way of bringing down a suspect that usually affects all those in the vicinity, including the officer, Krajenka said. There also is a potential fire hazard if the Taser were somehow to ignite the spray.

So far, New Boston officers have not had to fire or even draw them. Given how painful the experience can be, wouldbe assailants tend be less likely to challenge officers. Once they see the red laser sight aimed at them, they tend to become “very cooperative,” Krajenka said. The Tasers also can be easily distinguished from guns by their yellow color, which police will continue to carry.

Though less lethal than a gun, Tasers are not necessarily less painful. The weapon fires two small dartlike electrodes, which stay connected to the main unit by conductive wire.

During training, Krajenka said he and another officer experienced what it was like to be on the business end of a Taser.

“It’s the most excruciating thing I’ve been through. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody,” he said. “All of us were like, ‘Nice experience, but once in a lifetime.’”