Suella Braverman's plans to ramp up police's use of stop and search were branded "wholly inadequate" as she defended the disproportionate use against Black people.
The Home Secretary dismissed criticism that young Black men are unfairly targeted as figures show they are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.
She suggested this was justifiable as they are disproportionately victims of knife crime.
But Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said evidence had made clear that unfair use of the powers are "counterproductive".
She she listed multiple official reports raising concerns about the tactics "little of which the Home Secretary has even acknowledged".
The fact young men disproportionately make up victims did not "adequately explain" why there was disproportionality in search rates, she said.
Ms Cooper highlighted how Ms Braverman referred to "young Black men" around six times in her Commons statement, with only one reference to people who are white, "even though her own statement recognises that young Black men are still the minority of knife crime victims".
She also pointed out the majority of searches are for drug possession, not knife crime, "and yet figures show drug use is actually lower among Black people than white people".
Ms Braverman's Commons statement came after she sent a letter to the 43 police forces in England and Wales telling police chiefs they had "her full backing" to ramp up use of the tactic.
The Tory minister told MPs in the chamber "it is utterly devastating when somebody is killed by a weapon", adding: "Passivity is not an option, nor is wishful thinking."
Calling it a "tragic mistake" to conclude that stop and search is "too controversial" to use, Ms Braverman said: "The facts are that young Black men are disproportionately likely to be victims of violent crimes. They're the ones most in need of protection. This is about saving the lives of young Black men.
"Moreover being stopped and searched when carrying a weapon can prevent someone, of whatever background, from making a terrible mistake that they can never undo."
She said Black people make up 3% of the population but that a third of under 25s killed by knives are Black.
Since 2019, she added, more than 40,000 weapons have been seized and over 220,000 arrests following a stop and search. She also claimed burglary and drug crimes had been prevented because of the tactic.
But Ms Cooper hit back: "When the Home Secretary claims serious violence is going down, she is focusing on the Covid period, because the worrying truth is that knife crime and gun crime are rising again.
"Today's statement therefore is wholly inadequate as a response to knife crime.
"Stop and Search is an extremely important tool in the fight against knife crime but it isn't the whole strategy and that's why we need a much more comprehensive approach and is why Labour has said we will set, as a part of our mission, the determination to halve knife crime and serious violent crime.
"Because stop and search is an important tool, that's also why it needs to be used in an effective and fair way."
The Labour frontbencher questioned why there is no new serious crime strategy, no action to bring in a new law on the criminal exploitation of young people, and still no action on youth mentors to support early intervention.
"Too many lives are at stake. We need more than this from the Home Secretary," she added.
Veteran MP Diane Abbott told the Commons: "I am a Black mother and I know many Black mothers - they are my friends, my relatives, my constituents... so will the Home Secretary explain to the House how her statement meets the long-standing concern of Black mothers, not just about the tragedy of a life lost, but about the use of suspicion-less powers?"
Ms Braverman said stop and search is "at its core" about saving lives and preventing crimes and said she was "incredibly encouraged" by the evidence from local forces, as Ms Abbott shook her head at the response.
Labour MP Dawn Butler drew attention to Scotland, which was once the knife crime capital of the UK.
She said it reduced knife crime by 69% by using a public health approach, as she asked Ms Braverman why she was not also taking a public health approach.
The Home Secretary said "we work all agencies" but continued to reel off statistics in defence of stop and search.
Florence Eshalomi, also a Labour MP, said the framing of knife crime "as a black issue is frankly lazy and a dangerous narrative".
"We need to work with all our communities to understand the core issues around the root cause of crime and why some of our young people feel they need to carry a knife. Some of them are victims... stop and search alone is a blunt tool," she said.
Ms Braverman responded: "It is absolutely vital stop and search is used judiciously, proportionally and reasonably."
Last year a police watchdog report revealed the Met Police stopped and searched the same black teenager 60 times over a two year period.
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