A police Taser produces a peak open-circuit voltage of about 50,000 volts, but that number describes the spark that jumps the gap before the probes make contact. Once current is actually flowing through a person’s body, the working voltage is much lower: roughly 1,200 volts on the widely deployed X26, and closer to 870 volts on the newer TASER 10. The 50,000-volt figure gets quoted constantly, and it isn’t wrong, but on its own it tells you almost nothing about how the weapon stops someone or how dangerous it is.
Voltage by Taser Model
Every police-issue Taser uses the same basic trick. A high open-circuit voltage arcs across the air gap and through clothing to reach skin. Once the circuit closes through the body, the voltage the device actually sustains drops sharply.
The X26 became the standard sidearm-style Taser for U.S. law enforcement in the mid-2000s. Its peak open-circuit arcing voltage is 50,000 volts. Once the probes connect with a target, peak loaded voltage falls to 1,200 volts, and the average across the full pulse phase is just 350 volts.1Yadkinville Police Department. TASER X26E Series Electronic Control Device Specification
The older M26 shared the same 50,000-volt open-circuit peak but ran hotter under load, with peak loaded readings between 3,900 and 5,100 volts.2MPB Technologies. Taser Model M26 Test Concepts
The TASER 10, Axon’s current flagship, goes the other way. Independent government testing measured its mean peak loaded voltage at roughly 870 volts, with individual readings between about 653 and 883 volts depending on the load.3GOV.UK. Taser 10 Technical Testing Results As the technology has matured, working voltages have come down and output has become more precisely controlled.
Claims that Tasers reach 100,000 volts refer to consumer-grade stun guns from third-party manufacturers, not the Axon devices police actually carry. No law enforcement Taser has an open-circuit peak above 50,000 volts.
Why Amperage Matters More Than the Voltage Number
Voltage pushes current through resistance. Current is what damages living tissue. A static shock from a doorknob can hit 25,000 volts and do nothing but sting, because almost no current flows behind it. Tasers work on the same principle, scaled up.
Police Taser models deliver an average current of roughly 1.2 to 2.1 milliamps. For context, current above 75 milliamps flowing across the heart can trigger ventricular fibrillation, the chaotic rhythm that leads to cardiac arrest.4OSHA. Basic Electricity Safety A Taser’s average current sits 35 to 60 times below that threshold. That gap is what keeps the device survivable for the vast majority of exposures.
The pulses are also extremely short. The X26 fires about 19 pulses per second, each lasting roughly 100 microseconds.1Yadkinville Police Department. TASER X26E Series Electronic Control Device Specification The TASER 10 fires slightly faster at 22 pulses per second, but each pulse is even shorter, averaging around 58 microseconds.3GOV.UK. Taser 10 Technical Testing Results Current is only passing through the body for a tiny fraction of each second. Low average amperage plus microsecond pulses is why the shock stays on the survivable side of the ledger.
What That Current Does to the Body
The goal of a Taser deployment is neuromuscular incapacitation. The electrical pulses override the signals the brain sends to voluntary muscles and replace them with rapid, involuntary contractions. Muscles lock up. Balance goes. The person drops. It has been described as an overwhelming full-body cramp.
Each trigger pull starts a five-second discharge cycle on law enforcement models, which can be cut short by switching the safety back on.1Yadkinville Police Department. TASER X26E Series Electronic Control Device Specification The effect stops when the current stops. Muscle control returns within seconds of the cycle ending. Officers can pull the trigger again for additional cycles, though department policies typically cap the number and duration.
Probe Mode Versus Drive-Stun
Police Tasers operate in two very different modes, and the voltage figures above only tell part of the story about what each mode does.
In probe mode, the device fires two barbed probes from a cartridge, propelled by a compressed nitrogen charge. The probes embed in skin or clothing, and current flows between them through the tissue in between. Because the probes land inches apart, the current crosses a large volume of muscle. That’s what produces full neuromuscular incapacitation. Wider spread means more muscle groups affected; training materials identify 12 or more inches of separation as optimal. Older models like the X26 and TASER 7 have a maximum probe range of about 25 feet. The TASER 10 extends that to 45 feet and carries multiple probes, so an officer can fire, assess, and fire again without swapping cartridges.5Axon. TASER 10
In drive-stun mode, no probes are fired. The officer presses the front of the device directly against the body and activates it. Current passes between two contact points only a couple of inches apart, through a small patch of tissue. Drive-stun does not cause neuromuscular incapacitation. It functions as a pain compliance tool: it hurts, but it won’t lock up muscles or drop anyone. The effect stops instantly when the device is pulled away.6Axon. Drive-Stun Backup Most agencies discourage drive-stun as a standalone technique because it is less effective than probe deployment and draws more use-of-force scrutiny when applied repeatedly.
Health Risks and Cardiac Concerns
Tasers are classified as less-lethal, not non-lethal. Research published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation concluded that the X26 can cause cardiac arrest in humans. The mechanism involves the electrical pulses capturing the heart’s rhythm and driving it fast enough to degenerate into ventricular fibrillation.7American Heart Association. TASER Electronic Control Devices Can Cause Cardiac Arrest in Humans
The risk is not evenly distributed. Probe strikes close to the heart pose the greatest danger. People with a low body mass index are more vulnerable because the distance between skin and heart is shorter. People under the influence of stimulant drugs, those with pre-existing heart conditions, and those with implanted cardiac devices all face elevated risk.7American Heart Association. TASER Electronic Control Devices Can Cause Cardiac Arrest in Humans Amnesty International documented over 500 deaths following Taser exposure between 2001 and the early 2010s, though many involved complicating factors such as drug intoxication, physical restraint, or prolonged or repeated shocks.
Axon itself has acknowledged that cardiac capture and cardiac arrest can occur, particularly in people who are physiologically compromised. That is why most department policies limit the number of cycles an officer may apply and require medical evaluation after a deployment.