TASER International Inc. (Nasdaq: TASR) is justifiably world famous for its “stun gun” electric weapons. They’re used by more than 18,000 police forces in 107 countries around the globe, including cops in 31 of the United States’ 34 largest cities.

According to the company’s own data, their TASER weapons have reduced injuries to officers and suspects by 30% to 80% where they’re deployed.

The shares had a remarkable run on the Nasdaq, topping $35 on June 11, 2015, as the company announced it was hitting the market with its Axon line of police body cameras following some high-profile deadly-force controversies that led to civil unrest in American cities like Baltimore and St. Louis.

Here was a defense and tech company offering an off-the-shelf solution to one of the most pressing, controversial social problems of recent history…

…but the stock dropped like a stone, as low as $13.56.

Analysts and short-sighted investors started lumping the company in with bitterly disappointing flash-in-the-pan GoPro Inc. (Nasdaq: GPRO).

But the two companies couldn’t be more different, and investors who think of TASER as being of a kind with GoPro are likely making a mistake – a costly one.

They’re ignoring TASER’s deep long game, a “secret weapon” of its own.

Here’s what I mean…

How TASER Will Avoid GoPro’s Fatal Mistake

GoPro spent long months as a Wall Street darling, but the sell side has finally come around to see that GoPro wasn’t ever going to be a winning proposition. But that realization came at a steep cost; the shares crashed all the way down to $9 from $65, handing credulous investors losses of more than 86%.

Their rugged, customizable body-mounted cameras were a retail hit, of course, with their intrepid users posting all sorts of thrilling, sometimes dangerous exploits on YouTube.com.

This helped feed the bait and switch that savvy investors knew the company was pulling off: GoPro users used GoPro technology and posted their videos on (some other company’s) social media platform, so the company positioned and marketed itself as a social media and tech firm.