On April 6, 1920, John "Jack" Higson Cover Jr. is born. Cover earned a doctorate in nuclear physics from the University of Chicago and later served as a test pilot in the United States Army Air Force following the American entry into World War Two. After the war, he worked at the Naval Air Weapons Test Station China Lake before working at North American Aviation, Hughes, and IBM. In the 1970s, he developed a device which used electricity to disable an individual as a less-lethal alternative to deadly force. Drawing inspiration from a novel from the Tom Swift series (Thomas Swift and His Electric Rifle), Cover named the new device the Taser (for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle); however, the new weapon was ruled a firearm by the BATFE (Bureau of Alchohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) due to using blackpowder to propel the darts which carried the electrical charge to the target and his potential market was essentially eliminated with only a few being sold to the Los Angeles Police Department.

In 1993, brothers Tom and Rick Smith approached Cover with a proposal to resurrect the Taser concept. The design was changed to utilize compressed air as the propellant, removing the firearm classification and making the design more practical and more marketable. It is currently the most popular projectile-based stun gun on the market and is used by military, police, and civilians alike.

Jack Cover passed away from pneumonia on February 7, 2009, at the age of 88.