The Smart Gun is Here

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KyJim

New member
The long awaited (by the gun grabbers) "smart gun" is here. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...be76da-8f58-11e3-b227-12a45d109e03_story.html. A complete handgun is sold in one store for $1,800. There are also a couple of companies that make add-ons to existing guns.

In this thread, I would like to focus on the technologies and whether anybody is interested in the gun. I don't want to focus on the implications the technology has on gun rights since that is more a subject for the Law and Civil Rights forum, especially this thread (see my post #3). http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=542156
 
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Gaerek

New member
The only reason I could possibly want this is to keep a gun in my nightstand at night since I have young kids at home. Having said that, I would be betting the life of my kids (if they happened to get to the gun while I was asleep or forgot to put it away or something) on a complicated piece of technology. In addition, I would be betting the life of myself or my family on that same piece of technology in an instance where I had to actually use the gun for defense. What happens if the battery runs dry? Boat anchor time? I don't think I would buy one for a number of reasons. Some of the major ones listed above, but also because this gun is pretty much the Holy Grail of gungrabbers. It's yet again another hardware solution to a software problem.
 
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spanishjames

New member
It would be very easy to render all guns inoperable with a signal jammer. The article says schools could have markers so a gun wouldn't fire there. If the internet could be turned off during "emergencies" (riot), why wouldn't all guns be turned off? Of course, it wouldn't work when you need it most.
 
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Gaerek

New member
It would be very easy to render all guns inoperable with a signal jammer. The article says schools could have markers so a gun wouldn't fire there. If the internet could be turned off during "emergencies" (riot), why wouldn't all guns be turned off? Of course, it wouldn't work when you need it most.
Click to expand...

Ooooo.

I hadn't thought about that. Wi-Fi/cellular chips are getting so small and cheap now that it'd be trivial to get them in a gun. Access to network means access to the electronics outside of the end user. A big giant gun kill switch? No way. That's enough reason for me to never want one of these, let alone the other reasons I've listed.
 
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FAS1

New member
No thanks. But, as technology gets better I am sure you will see more companies offering them. The current acceptable failure rate for biometric handgun safes is not enough for me to trust my life to one, so I doubt I will be interested in a biometric or rfid gun any time soon.
 
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Waspinator

New member
I don't like this at all.

For reasons already stated (batteries dieing, failures in circuitry, remote kill switches, electronic interference....on and and on) and for personal reasons below.

I have acidic hands. Having acidic hands has been troublesome throughout my life. Being a machinist, I have to be extra careful when handling materials that rust very easily (like cold rolled steels). If I handle any firearm that is not stainless, then I have to make sure I wipe it down real well afterwards (still have to wipe the stainless). Trying to use touch screens is a chore to say the least.. they do not respond well to my fingertips (so, smart phones are useless to me.. I still rock a flip phone). AND.. biometric readers may only work 1 out of 10 tries for me. I've tried some medicines and supplements to decrease the acidity of my hands, but they only work marginally.

So, this type of tech would pretty much render my firearms useless to me.
 
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Sharpsdressed Man

Moderator
I think they tried safety devices on knives, too, and they didn't works so well. It seem that deadly weapons are, well, deadly. By design. And we want them to be that way. Sophisticated safety devices seem to work against the K.I.S.S. principle.
 
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KyJim

New member
It would be very easy to render all guns inoperable with a signal jammer.
Click to expand...
Good point. The might also provide a false of security because a weird radio signal might accidentally disable the safety device. I've had some instances of one of my TVs turning itself on. I'm pretty sure it's due to a stray electronic signal mimicking my remote . . . though there is the ghost theory.
 
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44 AMP

Staff
I read the article, watched the video. The author's blatant use of a half truth about the Clinton/S&W deal and his use of a "for the children" historical oddity, while remaining ignorant (or at least not mentioning it) of the Magna Trigger technology call ALL his statements and conclusions into question.

Congratulations Mr Cal gun buyer, you have gotten the state's approval, and are now the proud owner of a $1400 paperweight. Oh, you actually want the gun to fire?, well, we have this accessory watch, that will allow that, for only an additional $400....
:eek:

Biometrics are fine things, when they work. But NOTHING works 100%. Read your fingerprints? Fine. Just make absolutely certain you can read them accurately, when my hands are clean & dry, wet, dirty, oily, coated in grease, wearing gloves, or just not in exactly the right spot....

Police right now are seriously looking at having a "master kill switch" allowing them to shut off the engine of a (new tech) car(s). Wouldn't it be just wonderful if they could do that with guns, too? Maybe....

Trouble is, if the police can do it, so can someone else.

Convince me that if such tech exists that someone won't be able to hack it!?

And better have it on all the cops guns, too, for the children!

Well, police will have to be exempt...I see, another case of good for thee, but not for me?

interestingly, apparently some ANTI GUN groups are against smart gun/safe gun technology. They fear it will mean more guns in the hands of citizens! And, one was quoted saying, "this won't save us from 32,000 gun deaths a year"...

I had no idea that many guns died every year in the US...:D:rolleyes:
 
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BoogieMan

New member
Do any of you wear a watch or a ring to bed? I dont. If I had to have that gun I would bailing wire the watch or ring to the gun. Pretty easy way to defeat $1800 worth of security. I live in NJ so this is very scary for me. If it holds true than 2 years from now these guns might be the only ones for sale in the state. Once again its a great way to disarm law abiding citizens who are trying to defend there life and family from criminals. Maybe next guns will only work when your at a range that has a secret decoder.
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
Right now, everyone seems to think RFID technology is the most viable for 'smart guns'.

But, even RFID signals can be cloned, faked, blocked, or interfered with.

As stupid as it sounds to most people that think RFIDs are magical devices that can read your mind from 3 million miles away.... All it might take to block the signal from the watch/bracelet with the RFID chip, is one unfortunately placed metal button or snap on a coat, jacket, or shirt.


There have been several recent articles along the lines of the one linked in the OP - discussing the Armatix iP1. Almost everyone agrees that it is the most advanced, the most reliable, and the most "market ready" of the current 'smart gun' designs. However, the authors that have had a chance to shoot the iP1 have reported failures to 'arm' at least 10% of the time, while using the handgun and watch as recommended. :rolleyes:

And, the reason it's only available in .22 LR? ....because Armatix, themselves, have admitted in the past that the technology was too fragile for heavier-recoiling cartridges.
 
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2ndsojourn

New member
IMHO, it's just one more thing subject to malfunction, and I wouldn't bet my life on it. Plus the cost. FGI. For Get It.

From the article:
"New Jersey passed a hotly contested law in 2002 requiring that only smart guns be sold in the state within three years of a smart gun being sold anywhere in the country."

I guess I better get busy buying my one handgun a month now.
 
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Skans

Active member
I've seen articles about this gun, I think at least 6 months ago. I have no interest in the smart gun; here are my reasons:

1. The watch is UGLY. No way, no how am I wearing that watch!

2. I don't like anything electronic on my gun. For that matter, I won't even have an electronic safe. Electronic things take batteries. Batteries die, and die when you least want them to. I have a mini-vault that has a battery operated electronic key pad. After replacing batteries to that thing, every 3 months, I got tired of it. It's useless. I wasted $120 on this hunk of junk that just burns out batteries and NEVER works when I need it to.

3. I've owned handguns for decades. I've had a kid for over a decade. I've never even come close to needing some convoluted electronic gizmo to make me or my family any safer.

4. In addition to the crappy mini-vault that doesn't work, I've had 2 red-dot type sights and a lighted bow-sight that have all crapped out on me.

5. How, exactly, is the ugly watch thingy and gizmo-gun supposed to allow me to protect myself better than my a Glock 17 or Ruger LC9?

6. The last thing I need is another "smart" device that can track me and report back to big brother. I refuse to own a "smart phone", or a "smart car", and certainly won't own a "smart gun". Smart stuff is for dumb people. My dumb-gun turns smart when it is connected to my brain, when I need it to be, which is far more powerful (and doesn't use batteries) than any 2-bit smart chip soldered into a gun's pistol grip.
 
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WESHOOT2

New member
Frankie says relax

Since current-tech 'smart' guns are proprietary to their user, they will not suffice.

Once again (since it's not really 'new'), gun-haters have the answer. Yeah.
 
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2ndsojourn

New member
I just remembered something. Here in NJ a FOID card is required to buy firearms or ammo. Part of the application process includes fingerprinting, which is done at various fingerprint centers, with what seemed to be a somewhat new electronic scan, like on NCIS. The local PD wouldn't do it.

I had to make an appointment for the fingerprinting, so I scheduled it first thing in the am on my way to work. At the fingerprint center, my hands weren't greasy / dirty enough to read so I was given hand lotion to apply. Then it worked.

So I guess the moral of the story is don't wash your hands if you want to use your gun.
 
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Dragline45

New member
I have never owned a single electronic device that did not freeze up or not work properly at one time or another. I wouldn't be caught dead with one in my gun, although if I did have one in my gun, I very well could be caught dead.
 
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Ruger480

New member
They tried to sell these to the LEO community a while back. The weapon was dismissed as a terrible idea. One of their concerns was if an officer was wounded and unable to use their weapon, their partner wouldn't be able to use it either.
 
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