A
personalized gun, or
smart gun, is a concept
firearm that is designed to reduce the misuse of firearms through the use of RFID chips or other proximity devices,
fingerprint recognition, magnetic rings, or a
microchip implant.
examples:
Metal Storm[edit]
Australian defense company
Metal Storm made a prototype electronic 'smart' personalized handgun called the O'Dwyer VLe. It utilized biometric authorizing technology and was the world's first 100% electronic handgun. It also incorporated Metal Storm's patented 'stacked projectile' technology, which, in cohesion with the nature of the weapon system itself, meant that there was no moving parts, no separate magazine, no ammunition feed, and it outstripped conventional firing systems.
[13]
Mossberg[edit]
According to Jonathan Mossberg, the CEO of iGun Technology Corporation, his company is working on a smart shotgun that uses magnetic spectrum tag technology, similar in function to RFID, which is embedded in a ring that a user must wear in order to fire the gun. A 2013 report by the
National Institute of Justice stated that iGun's product "could be considered the first personalized firearm to go beyond a prototype to an actual commercializable or production-ready product."
[14][15] Mossberg has trademarked the term "SmartGun".
[16]
New Jersey Institute of Technology[edit]
A current prototype personalized gun by
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) relies on
biometric sensors in the grip and
trigger that can track a gun owner’s hand size, strength, and Dynamic grip style also known as (DGR) Dynamic Grip Recognition. The gun is programmed to recognize only the owner or anyone whom the owner wishes to authorize. One of the major projects involves the NJIT team, which claims the prototype identifies gun owners with 90% accuracy.
[17]
Colt[edit]
Initial prototypes produced by
Colt's Manufacturing Company involved the intended user wearing a bracelet that emitted a radio signal that would activate a mechanism inside the pistol to allow the handgun to be fired. The project was apparently scrapped over concerns of the batteries in the bracelet and the pistol failing.
[18]
TriggerSmart[edit]
Patrick O'Shaughnessy, owner of the Irish company Triggersmart, has patented and achieved a working prototype of a personalized gun in 2012 that works using radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology.
[19] TriggerSmart's Robert McNamara has spoken with US Attorney General, Eric Holder, at the White House and he and O'Shaughnessy met with and discussed smart guns with the United Nations in Berlin and New York. The NIJ featured TriggerSmart when it issued its report on Smart Guns in 2013.
[14][20]
BIOMAC[edit]
In May 2014
BBC News reported that Biomac, a US and Austrian company, was working on a firearm system that uses optical sensors to measure the biometric data below a user's skin in order to determine whether the individual holding the gun is the rightful owner of the weapon. Such a weapon would not fire if the sensors do not recognize the biometric data of one of its authorized user or users. The company also stated that it could also retro-fit older weapons to employ the this technology. However, the report highlighted the fact that RFID tags can be easily hacked, and that fingerprint scanners can be easily compromised, though it is unclear whether such breaches would work on smart guns.
[21]
Armatix[edit]
A German company, Armatix, has developed the
Armatix iP1 pistol, which comes with a special wrist watch which uses radio frequencies to identify the user.
[15][22]
Innovation Initiative[edit]
Sandy Hook Promise, a group of parents of the Sandy Hook massacre, have launched an Innovation Initiative with members of the Silicon Valley technology community. This initiative will advocate for providing breakthroughs in new gun technology by providing grant and prize moneys.
[23]
Ægen Technologies[edit]
Kai Kloepfer, a high school student and founder of the company, has a working prototype that uses a fingerprint sensor to unlock the firearms safety. It can be programed to register a range of fingerprints so that the gun would be able to be used by all the members of a police force. This prototype also promises to reduce risk of accidental shootings.
[24]
The smart gun is supposed to:
- Reduce the likelihood of unintentional injuries to children
- Preventing teenage suicides and homicides.
- Limit the violent acts committed by criminals using stolen guns.
- Protect law enforcement officers from criminals grabbing their firearms during a struggle.
If battery failure occurs one of two things can happen:
- For civilian use, the gun can be set to not fire.
- For law enforcement and military use, the safety system will be bypassed, and the gun will function like a normal firearm.
There have been quite a few inflammatory remarks made.
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