LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- The British government is buying 10,000 Taser stun guns for police officers across England and Wales , Britain 's Home Office said Monday . British police officers use a Taser gun to tackle a mock suspect in a training exercise . The move will expand the ranks of officers carrying the weapons from `` select firearms squads '' to `` thousands of trained frontline officers , '' according to the Home Office , which is responsible for domestic policing . Home Secretary ( Interior Minister ) Jacqui Smith said police `` deserve our support , so I want to give the police the tools they tell me they need to confront dangerous people . That is why I am giving the police 10,000 Tasers . '' The guns fire barbed darts charged with enough electricity to stun a person , the Home Office said . But Amnesty International UK described them as `` potentially lethal electrical weapons '' that deliver `` 50,000 volts of electricity into a person 's body . The result is excruciatingly painful , causing a person to fall to the ground and , at times , lose control of their bodily functions . '' The human rights group , however , expressed qualified support for the British government move , urging that the weapons be given only to officers specially trained to use them . `` We do n't actually oppose the use of Tasers as long as it 's by a limited number of highly trained specialist officers , responding to genuinely life-threatening or very dangerous situations , '' said Oliver Sprague , the organization 's arms program director . But , he added : `` Tasers are potentially lethal weapons which are already linked to numerous deaths in North America and that 's why wide deployment without adequate training is a dangerous step too far for British policing . '' `` The home secretary should urgently review this decision and ensure that Tasers only end up in the hands of a small number of fully trained officers capable of making the potentially fatal decision over whether to fire 50,000 volts into a person 's body . '' Amnesty says more than 300 people have died after being shot with Tasers since 2001 . The decision to introduce Tasers across England and Wales follows what the government called a successful pilot program with officers from 10 police forces , including London 's Metropolitan Police and forces responsible for Liverpool and Bristol . The test ran for 12 months from September 2007 with constables who had not previously carried firearms , a Home Office spokesman said . Before the pilot program , approximately 6,000 specially trained firearms officers across the country had access to Tasers starting in 2004 . Most British police officers do not carry any kind of firearm , Home Secretary Smith emphasized in her statement , a fact she said she was proud of .
Police officers across England and Wales to armed with Taser stun guns . Guns fire barbed darts charged with enough electricity to stun a person . Decision to roll out Tasers across England and Wales follows pilot program . Comment: