by Dave Workman | Senior Editor
President Barack Obama is making yet another stab at pushing so-called smart gun technology, announcing a plan to “expedite” development of these new firearms and the requirements they would have to meet for law enforcement agencies to adopt their use.
The White House released a 16-page report to the president that outlines strategies to “expedite deployment of gun safety technology.” The complete report is available online at www.whitehouse.gov.
“By incorporating electronic systems into a firearm’s design,” the report’s introduction explains, “manufacturers can give gun owners greater control over how a weapon is used, both by limiting who can fire the gun (‘user-authorization technology’) and by making a gun easier to retrieve if it is lost or stolen (‘electronic recovery technology’).”
Gun rights advocates may take this to mean the development of technology to track firearms. Activists may see that as a red flag because they feel the government has no business being able to track their firearms.
According to Newsmax.com and the Associated Press, the president asserted that, “Many gun injuries and deaths are the result of legal guns that were stolen, misused, or discharged accidentally. As long as we’ve got the technology to prevent a criminal from stealing and using your smartphone, then we should be able to prevent the wrong person from pulling a trigger on a gun.”
Obama acknowledged in a Facebook post that, “These common-sense steps are not going to prevent every tragedy, but what if they prevented even one? We should be doing everything we can to save lives and spare families the pain and unimaginable loss too many Americans have endured.”
But what if the technology doesn’t work? The report’s introduction notes that while much of the basic technology already exists, “Manufacturers must now find ways to effectively integrate this technology into firearms without compromising the core functions of the device.
“Gun owners—whether law enforcement officers, hunters, or homeowners seeking to protect their property—expect their firearms to work seamlessly, under all conditions, without concern for technical malfunction,” the report acknowledged. “To make ‘smart’ gun technology saleable to a wide range of consumers, manufacturers must ensure that these firearms operate properly in the high-stress situations when firearms are needed most.”
That could be a tall order, especially for law enforcement and the military. A firearm on the street or a battlefield might have to be used immediately and under emergency conditions by more than one individual.
The report suggests that federal, state and local governments “can support this effort in two ways: by lowering the cost of bringing new technology to market, and by exercising their collective purchasing power, where appropriate, to spur development.
“This report proposes a policy initiative that would support both of these methods. Over the next six months, the Administration will partner with state, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies to establish the specific conditions under which they would consider purchasing firearms with advanced gun safety technology.”
The report says that the potential benefits include limiting “take-a-ways” during law enforcement operation, and limiting misuse of lost and stolen law enforcement firearms. Such guns would also limit accidental off-duty discharges of law enforcement firearms by children and other family members.
The report detailed some of the grants that have been offered in recent years for research and development of so-called smart guns. Colt’s Manufacturing was awarded $500,079 in 1997 that resulted in the delivery of two prototypes in 2000, but “they were deemed too unreliable to undergo substantial test firings.”
Beginning in 2000, the report revealed, Smith & Wesson was awarded about $3.67 million for a project “which explored several types of firearm authentication, including PIN codes, fingerprint sensors, and skin tissue spectroscopy.” However, the report added, “Although the company originally planned to deliver 50 prototypes for testing and evaluation, only two were ultimately delivered. The project ended in 2005.”
Also beginning in 2000, FN Manufacturing was awarded approximately $2.6 million to develop a “Secure Weapon System” to be unlocked by an RFID device worn as a ring on the user’s hand. “During testing,” the report said, “the prototypes fired a combined 1,500 rounds with only one mechanical incident, although evaluators noted that the weapon behaved erratically and that blunt force could override the authentication system. The grant funding ended in 2006 and FN Manufacturing did not pursue the project further.”
Another grant was awarded to five manufacturers by the National Institute of Justice “to explore different user-authorization technologies.” According to the report, “The most advanced of these efforts involved iGun Technology, which had previously developed a shotgun in 1999 that could be unlocked by an RFID device worn as a ring on the user’s firing hand.”
Another grant went to the New Jersey Institute of Technology to develop a firearm that could be unlocked with “dynamic grip recognition.” That project continued from 2004 through 2014, including a transfer of funding from NIJ to the Bureau of Justice Assistance. But in 2014, funding ran out.
There have also been private ventures, including the Armatix “Smart System” that features a .22-caliber pistol used with an RFID wristband, and the Kodiak “Intelligun” which has an add-on fingerprint sensor for a Model 1911-style pistol.
According to the Associated Press report, the Social Security Administration will propose a new rule that improves reporting of mental health records to the National Instant Check System to prevent disqualified persons from buying a firearm. Once the rule proposal is published in the Federal Register, the public will have 60 days to comment.
“The president’s fixation on social security recipients is just another distraction from his failure to address the underlying issues of violent crime and suicide,” said Jennifer Baker, director of Public Affairs for the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, in a statement to the press. “As this president makes it harder for law-abiding citizens to exercise their individual right to self-defense, his own administration is releasing criminals convicted of gun crimes back onto the street and prosecuting 40 percent less firearm crimes than the previous administration. President Obama’s focus on denying disability beneficiaries their fundamental Second Amendment rights while giving criminals a free pass is embarrassing and shameful.”
