Smart Guns

Issues concerning guns and personal rights have been on the minds of people throughout the country for years now.  One thing that doesn’t help is the shooting that took place earlier this week on FT. Hood.  Due to everyone’s negative responses to all the gun violence, people are developing ways to try to control guns.

Some people are looking at more gun control laws.  Let’s think about this one…  Done. The bad guys are going to get guns anyway so that doesn’t fix the problem.  Background checks are ok but the people who have been recently caught had clean backgrounds.  Your background is checked through the ATF.  So, if you aren’t on their radar, you are good.  Bottom line, gun control laws haven’t stopped anything before and most likely won’t stop anything in the future.

There are companies that are looking at biometric sensors and vocal recognition systems that identify the owner and will function accordingly.  Colt developed a gun equipped with a microchip that would prevent it from firing unless the user was wearing an enabling device located in a special wristband.  Colt abandoned the project in 1998.  TriggerSmart Ltd. of Limerick, Ireland, has developed a system using Radio Frequency Identification that would be built into the handle of a gun and triggered by a device the size of a grain of rice inside a user’s ring or bracelet (Biter).  Ironically, they are looking for an American manufacture and kits to retrofit existing guns.  Armatix GmbH of Unterfoehring, Germany, says it has developed a personalized gun, with settings based on radio frequency technology and biometrics that was approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in late 2011.  The use of radio frequency technology and biometric sensors was in the hit movie ” 007 Skyfall“.

Global Digital Solutions (GDSI) claimed in mid March that it was the leader in the smart gun race.  Earlier this year, the company announced the GDSI Gatekeeper.  GDSI Gatekeeper combines advanced Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology with web-based wireless capabilities, and will provide commercial and military customers with three essential safety and security benefits:
•    Encrypted, password-protected, digital, trigger-locking capability.
•    Secure, real-time online tracking.
•    Encrypted, cloud-enabled databases.
They also have retrofitted items for existing firearms.

I personally don’t think most Americans will agree with the whole tracking thing even though it is and can be done with cars and smart phones.  Not that they have anything to worry about but, it is the perception of freedom and privacy that seems to be violated at some point.  GDSI is looking at a more or less hostile take over of all the major gun manufacturers in America.  I’m not liking the concept of centralizing the manufacturing; Isn’t monopolizing a market illegal?  What am I talking about?  People are getting away with murder literally.

I, for one is a big fan of guns and am among many who say, “Guns don’t shoot people, people shoot people.”  When it comes to teaching people how to use guns, I will tell them very candidly that the gun is a tool, you are the weapon.  You (the shooter) control what that guns does.  However, it is because of people’s irresponsibility or their decisive actions that  it is cause for all of this in the first place.  I for one is interested to see how all this plays out.  Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!

Onyx Contributor:  R.L. Knight