Manufacturers Dabble In Smart Guns
BY Herschel Smith
11 years, 10 months ago
Manufacturers are looking into new sensor and biometric technology to restrict gun use to the owner.
They’re called smart guns. When placing a sensor ring on the gun, it shoots. Without it, it can’t.
It’s part of technology designed so only the authorized user can fire the weapon.
Another design uses biometric technology that recognizes your grip.“One of the major designs is where it accepts either a fingerprint or a thumb print so it will release the firing pin or the trigger area so that it can fire, so if it doesn’t recognize it, it won’t allow the gun to fire,” says Santa Maria gun shop manager Joe Degeus.
Making it useless, if the gun were to fall into the hands of a child or a criminal.
“It is kind of like James Bond,” says Degeus. “But you got to remember, with technology comes the opportunity for more mistakes.”
Gun owners say it sounds good in theory but argue the technology is lacking.
“If that system jams up or if we have a problem with it, I’m in a bad situation,” says gun owner Joshua Miller. “Because the criminal that’s coming at me…he’s not going to have any limitations so his gun’s going to fire every time.”
Take it from a registered professional engineer. You see that picture above with the solid state electronics inside the gun? It is obscene. Not only that, it’s stupid.
There are even old school shooters who don’t believe in such a thing as the grip safety (Beaver tail) on my XDm. I am not among that crowd, but the notion that I would rely on a gun with solid state electronics for my own protection is absurd, leaving aside the problems I have with it being amenable to governmental control.
Every gun you have should be capable of personal defense. Some guns (and cartridges) are better for concealment, some better for target shooting, some better for more sophisticated and formal competition such as 3-gun or IDPA, some are better for hunting, and some are best for personal defense.
But whether .17 HMR, 5.6 mm or .338, every gun you have should be at least minimally capable of use in some sort of defensive situation, even if not the best suited for that purpose. This is true because you might be in a position where you have to pick it up and use it for that very purpose in a crisis.
Having solid state electronics as yet another failure mode in any of those guns is not an option for me, and I suspect, for 99% of all other shooters. So here’s a note to manufacturers. You go right ahead and “dabble” in smart gun technology. I will purchase such a gun when hell freezes over.
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On February 19, 2013 at 11:10 am, Publius said:
…and I wonder how would all those electronics would perform in any post-EMP situation? Hmmm?
Electronic tagging is what happens when Big Brain Smart People focus like a laser on one aspect of a problem — and ignore all others.
And these are the people who feel entitled to run your life.
On February 19, 2013 at 12:01 pm, Josh said:
This has got to be the single most absurd thing I’ve ever heard of doing to a firearm.
Someone said, “let’s put an electronic chip in the stock of a shotgun”.
Someone said that. They should have been slapped in the face and then laughed out of the room, while being pointed at.
On February 19, 2013 at 9:30 pm, Darkwater said:
Hey, don’t forget to pack that spare battery so you can switch it out while under attack.
On February 20, 2013 at 1:40 pm, Reciprocity said:
I have a biometric gun safe. My phone unlocks with my fingerprint too. It works pretty well, but it is nowhere as reliable as I would like it to be. For one, if you have just been in the shower, gone swimming, or even washed dishes, your fingerprint changes when your skin wrinkles.
I can’t get into the biometric safe until my fingers have completely returned to normal. Still, it is my “best” quick access option with the necessary security required when kids are in the house.
On February 20, 2013 at 2:49 pm, Chuck said:
As soon as these things start being offered for sale to the general public you will start seeing youtube video tutorials on how to disable them.