TASER CLAIMS STIR SEC INQUIRY

Federal Officials Are Comparing Taser International's Safety Claims With
Studies About The Stun Gun.

Taser International, the company that makes stun guns used by police in the
Tampa Bay area and across the country, is the subject of an "informal
inquiry" by federal authorities over safety claims made by company
officials, Taser announced this week.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into whether statements
made by company officials defending the stun guns' safety are consistent
with findings from studies on the devices, touted as an alternative to
lethal weapons.

Taser officials began insisting their stun guns are "generally safe and
effective" last year amid a flurry of reports questioning the guns' safety
after the deaths of suspects nationwide on whom Tasers were used.

On Friday, Tom Smith, president and co-founder the Scottsdale, Ariz.,
company, reaffirmed the past statements about the weapons, which emit a
charge to attack the central nervous system and temporarily immobilize a
target.

"We fully stand behind the statements we've made regarding the studies,"
Smith said. "We've not seen any study come back with any risk identified in
the use of the technology yet.

"There's much ado about nothing," Smith said. "It's simply an inquiry.
We're happily complying."

An SEC informal inquiry falls below an investigation, which would give
investigators subpoena power.

Tampa Bay area police departments, which have begun using the guns
increasingly in recent years, said they would await the SEC inquiry's
outcome before deciding whether to tinker with written policies on the weapons.

"We will monitor that situation and see what comes out of it," said Mac
McMullen, a spokesman for the Pinellas Sheriff's Office, which owns more
than 400 Tasers.

While Taser officials have insisted their products have never directly
caused death or serious injury, some newspaper reports have linked stun gun
use to deaths.

In December, the Arizona Republic said medical examiners had cited Tasers
"as a cause or contributing factor" in six deaths and said the gun "could
not be ruled out in two" others.

Some medical experts say the 50,000-volt Taser shocks increase the risk of
heart failure among people who are agitated, use drugs or alcohol or have
other health problems.

Last May, a 40-year-old Seffner man died shortly after Hillsborough
sheriff's deputies shot him with a Taser and handcuffed him. The
Hillsborough medical examiner's office said Henry J. Lattarulo's death was
accidental, caused by cocaine-induced agitated delirium.

Several other deaths of suspects who were with Tasers also involve possible
drug use or underlying medical problems. In Florida, three men died in
December alone after police used Tasers on them in separate incidents.

A 19-year-old man died after Collier County sheriff's deputies shot him
with a Taser and doused him with a pepper-spray-like substance. Autopsy
results are pending.

A 36-year-old man died after Hollywood police shot him with a Taser. A
medical examiner on Thursday attributed his death to a cocaine overdose,
saying the victim had five times the toxic level of the drug in his system.
A 31-year-old man died after being shot twice with a Taser by Delray Beach
police during a struggle. Police reportedly have said they believe think
the man's death was related to drug use.

Last November in Miami-Dade County, police were criticized after officers
used Taser guns to subdue a 6-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl.

Police said the boy had cut himself twice with a shard of glass and was
threatening to harm himself again. Police say the girl, suspected of
skipping school, was fleeing officers.

Steve Rothlein, deputy director of Miami-Dade police, said revisions of the
department's policy on Tasers should be completed within a month. Rothlein
declined to detail the revisions.

The SEC inquiry could prompt additional changes, he said Friday.

"We'll certainly be mindful of anything that occurs with the SEC," he said.
"We'll keep an open mind and review that information."

Still, Rothlein and other Florida police officials said Friday their
departments were pleased with Tasers and planned to use them indefinitely.

"It's a good product and has the potential to reduce injuries to the people
we arrest as well as the officers themselves," Rothlein said.

Debbie Carter, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office, said:
"Right now, we're very happy with using the Tasers."

Wayne Shelor, a Clearwater police spokesman, said his department was
"comfortable" with the stun guns and found them to be a "remarkable tool."

On Friday, a Securities and Exchange Commission spokesman declined to
confirm the inquiry, which also is focusing on the timing of a $1.5-million
sale Taser made to a firearms distributor to possibly inflate
fourth-quarter sales in 2004.

Smith, Taser's president, denied any wrongdoing. "It's business conducted -
produced and shipped - in the fourth quarter," he said.

* Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.