New Jersey Tells of Progress in Developing a `Smart Gun'

[Judi Lynn]

New Jersey Tells of Progress in Developing a `Smart Gun'
By RONALD SMOTHERS

Published: January 7, 2004


EWARK, Jan. 6 — State researchers on Tuesday unveiled their work so far on developing a childproof "smart gun," while members of the state's Congressional delegation said they would seek federal research grants to help advance the technology, which is intended to revolutionize gun safety.

Engineers and scientists at the New Jersey Institute of Technology here said they were "about two years away" from perfecting their "dynamic grip technology," a newly developed method that electronically stores and recognizes the grip pattern and pressure of a gun's owner and prevents the gun from being fired by anyone else. The technology, on view at a news conference on Tuesday, grows out of scientists' belief that grip and pressure patterns are unique to individuals and do not vary under conditions of stress.

The state's two United States senators, Frank R. Lautenberg and Jon S. Corzine, and Robert Menendez, a key Democratic member of the House of Representatives, also announced that they would seek more than $1 million in the evolving $817 billion Omnibus Spending Bill in Congress to move the research to the next phase. That includes further enhancement of the grip and pressure electronics, broader scientific evaluation of the technology, and field testing of a prototype that could be easily manufactured and marketed.

But at the same time, Senator Lautenberg and the other lawmakers, who have all been strong gun control and regulation advocates over the years, said the work faced fierce opposition. "I hope and pray that we can get this done," Senator Lautenberg said. "We're just going to work hard on it."
(snip/...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/07/nyregion/07GUN.html

[NickB79]

1. I will gladly buy one

Just as soon as they are thoroughly tested and adopted by the police on the streets. If the police don't feel the technology is good enough to protect their lives, I won't trust one to protect my life. Police have the most risk of being shot with their own guns, so they are the ones most in need of this technology. I have nothing against advances in smart gun technology; after all, if perfected and available to the general public (ie not priced sky-high) they could make guns much safer. But like they say, it is still several years away (actually, I remember reading that smart guns were 2 yrs away about 4 yrs ago).

I honestly don't see why pro-gun groups don't back this more. A widely available and reasonably priced (~$400-$600) smart gun or a smart gun retrofit for currently owned guns, that actually works like it should (doesn't lock up when needed,) could help silence the greatest fear that gun control groups play upon: accidental shootings when a child finds their parent's gun. Without that fear, I believe that gun control proponents would lose a lot of the support they currently have with suburban families.

[saigon68]

2. This is the fear of suburban "white" families

Willie Horton 2

AKA Charles Singleton



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3374831.stm

The state of Arkansas has executed a man with a severe mental illness

The Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, had refused to issue a stay of execution.

The European Union and Amnesty International had urged the governor to commute the death sentence, saying it was morally reprehensible to execute a person with a severe mental illness.

Singleton's lawyer, Jeffrey Rosenzweig, said the execution left him "frustrated, disappointed, saddened".

[Merlin]

3. This is a joke, right? Is this guy one of the Smothers Brothers?

After they blow a few million researching the preposterous notions that a person's grip on a handgun is unique and all it's uniqueness is detectable using affordable technology, and can reliably be computed in an instant, and certifiably unlock when needed a weapon, they will silently announce that the technology is not yet feasible.

What a piece of pie in the sky.

Fingerprints? Maybe. Grip sensors? Get a grip!

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. Silly Canuk's musings

.
.
. hmmm lets see

2 cops in a gunfight, one cop gets wounded, other ones gun jams or runs out of ammo - 2nd cop dies because he can't fire his partner's weapon !!

Yup - snmart gun that -

Husband buys gun to protect family - intruder suprises family while husband is not home - family injured or worse CAUSE THEY CAN'T FIRE THE DAMM GUN !

smart gun that -

AND - oh, if they ever DO develop and successfully market the "smart" gun - the black market value for "dumb" guns will go through the roof !

of course, there's our dedicated "techie" hackers who will just develop something to "reprogram" the "smart" gun

DUMM idea all way round from my perspective !

[Nihil]

5. If only there were progress ...

... in developing a smart gun user ...

This isn't a dig at you responsible gun owners/shooters but at the
morons who believe that additional legislation avoids the need to
address stupidity. I don't own a gun but have enjoyed using one at
my friend's clay-shooting range. Such fun would be prevented by a
brain-dead "development" like this whilst doing nothing to prevent
a drunk (for example) gun-owner from injuring or killing themselves
or others.

In addition, wouldn't it be ironic if you disarmed a mugger only to
find that his gun could not be used to guard him until the police
arrived?

Nihil

[leftyandproud]

6. Um...Are you God?

No? Then stop pretending that you or anyone else has the power to solve such "stupidity" problems while we live in a free society. Some stupid people are inevitable, but they shouldn't cause the vast majority to lose their freedoms. Deal with them when possible. we have to accept the unavoidable tragedies that come with freedom of choice.

[Nihil]

10. Not last time I checked ...

> Then stop pretending that you or anyone else has the power to solve
> such "stupidity" problems while we live in a free society.

Who's pretending to do what? I'm not sure what I've said to wind you
up but I'm pretty sure it wasn't intended ... :shrug:

I'm saying that people shouldn't try writing new rules or hacking new
hardware to get around a very old problem - that of stupid users.
I see no reason why money should be wasted on developing "smart guns"
when the owner can be just as ignorant as ever. Are people proposing
the development of "smart knives" to reduce muggings and accidental
amputation of fingers?

Again, sorry if I've upset you but please say why?

Nihil

[leftyandproud]

14. if you're still reading..

you didn't upset me...I guess I misintepreted what you were saying... It seems lately, I've seen many posts where people assume they can create a new policy to solve unsolvable problems...and the laws they propose (taking guns away, preventing elderly from driving after age 70, etc) would harm thousands of responsible people in an effort to prevent a few idiots from harming themselves or others. I just don't think the tradeoff is worth it. We live in a free country, and we should let people be free (to be idiots if they choose)....When an individual hurts someone else, they should be punished...but we shouldn't punish everyone by saying "there ought to be a law"...which ends up hurting the vast majority of responsible citizens.

[slackmaster]

7. How to develop smart gun users

Gun safety education in public schools. We teach them how to drive, how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies, and try to give them skills to avoid substance abuse.

Why not teach them how to make sure a gun is unloaded?

[Nihil]

9. Right

So why not spend the $1M on education rather than technology and legal
chicanery? (I think we're agreeing here)

[slackmaster]

12. That's precisely what I mean

:toast:

[CO Liberal]

8. Much Easier Than Developing a Smart Freeper

That's damn near impossible.......

:-)

[DoNotRefill]

11. Thank goodness....

I've got a goodly supply of "dumb guns" and "dumb ammo" put away.

I wonder...how much will all this technology cost? $400-$600 per gun once they're in full production?

Guess who will be unable to afford such technology? I guess the lower classes will just have to get used to being unable to afford to exercise their rights when these expensive "smart guns" are mandated by law...Sounds pretty stupid to me...

[saigon68]

13. lower classes will just have to get used to BEEF BONING KNIVES

These bad boys can cut you from stem top stern.

[DoNotRefill]

15. yup...and if you're just wounded....

you might catch Mad Cow....and die later...

:evilgrin: