Smart guns

5655 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by forsaken2141, Mar 5, 2015

applesmasher

Discussion Starter · Aug 7, 2014

I read the following article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-g ... story.html

Yes, I know, it's the Washington Post, but I think that it makes sense to keep half an eye on what they're up to.

The short version is that it's some background on Mauch and his work on a smart gun system, and why he did it, with a very brief nod to reasons some people aren't wild about the idea.

My observation is that whenever I'm at bowling pin shoots and I'm using my GP100, I'm a bit slower than I am with anything semi-automatic. However, if there's a malfunction on the line it generally happens to the other guy and I win. When the chips are down, reliability matters. I have serious reservations about requiring one more doodad for a gun to go off, and for that doodad to work reliably.

Yes, children do shoot themselves and each other inadvertently. This is tragic - just as tragic as kids who drown in backyard pools, electrocute themselves with forks and toasters, or end up on the losing side of a vehicle collision. The actual risk factor statistically with firearms is so vanishingly low compared to regular domestic and traffic risks that it bears asking what babies will be thrown out with the bathwater, and the article barely addresses that.

It's the usual story, I suppose. Just another perspective.

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Hawken

· #2 · Aug 7, 2014

Yeah, smart guns were really in the news a while back because some shop in California was about to sell the Armatix pistol. I read a little about it, and the whole idea sounds pretty dumb.

You can read about how it works here: http://www.armatix.com/iP1-Limited-Edit ... .html?&L=7

Anyways, people were getting pretty upset because apparently New Jersey had this law where if one smart gun was sold anywhere in the country, all new jersey guns had to be smart guns from then on. Is that true?

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applesmasher

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 7, 2014

I am not a lawyer, New Jersey or anywhere else.

That said, my understanding is that New Jersey law stipulates that as soon as a smartgun is sold anywhere in the USA, a clock starts, and three years later nothing but smartguns may be sold in New Jersey.

What the details are around pre-existing firearms, private sales and transfers across state lines, I have no idea.

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briandg

· #4 · Aug 8, 2014

In theory, fine. smart gun with ring that activates it.

But, seriously. Batteries, microchips, rings, so many places that can cause failure to fire, but we are talking about handguns used in combat by not only civilians, but professionals. A failure to fire of a combat weopon will by its own definition as a combat weapon be at a time of combat, and a failure to fire may wind up with a death by the carrier of the smart weapon.

I'd rather carry a smart club than a smart gun. I take off rings, I run down batteries, I have been known to shoot left handed sometimes.

It would make a lot more sense to make a childproof cap. Maybe a key that is put in and removed. maybe a switch that is accessed by opening a closed compartment. Want to make a gun child safe? You can't. The best you can do is make your child gun safe. I personally think that the safe gun ring concept is one of the stupidest ever. No woman will want to carry a ring with her pistol.

it's just plain stupid to have a gun that only one, maybe two people can use in an emergency. For example, a police officer having to use a downed officer's handgun in an emergency situation. All rounds expended, officer down next to the barricade, incompatible magazines or ammo, the only choice is to take the unfamiliar weapon and put it to use. Not with a smart weapon, you might as well just surrender and pray for mercy.

No, it's not ridiculous. It's no more ridiculous than the things the anti-gun people are proposing.

I once read about a combat practice scenario. One of the stages of the course had a half dozen live rounds laying loose. There were more targets than there was ammo allotted to the shooters, you lost the stage if you didn't grab the loose ammo. You would lose the stage if you had to pick up a secondary weapon that was only enabled for an individual shooter.

Would it do any good if all of a department's guns, as well as activation rings were identical? You still run the risk of simple mechanical behavior. There are already plenty of mechanical failure possibilities. Don't add a few more.

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nielsenj

· #5 · Feb 24, 2015

Due to high technology many discoveries were introduced nowadays. From the appliances, furnitures and fixtures, gadgets and now here is the latest if I am not wrong the smart guns which is new to me. I do not know how effective is this. Just hoping that this kind of technology deals with more advantage to the community.

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Becks

· #6 · Mar 4, 2015

I'd like to get my hands on one of these smart gun prototypes. I'd locate the smart components, and then roughly slam that portion against the nearest hard corner surface to simulate instances of potential hard use, and see if it could still function. And if by some miracle it survived that, I'd subject it to a bath of WD40 to see if the electronics are proofed against such eventualities.

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applesmasher

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 4, 2015

Cold is bad for batteries. And it can result in condensation.

Carry it between the North Dakota Winter, what passes for Spring on the Olympic Peninsula, and the Arizona Summer.

How long does that smart battery stay smart?

If you check any computer, tablet or whatever you can find specifications on the temperatures in which it will work, and most of them just drop all warranty the moment condensation becomes an issue.

This idea is a turkey in so many fascinating ways.

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forsaken2141

· #8 · Mar 5, 2015

Gun proof your children. I was told exactly why I wasn't to go into a specific dresser drawer, and never did. Afaik my mom did keep her pistol with a string-type action lock through the magwell, and a trigger lock, and never actually had ammo (she had been done with shooting sports for a few years), and I just knew not to touch it. Although like most good families I was taught safe handling, rules, avoiding guns (like if found on the street), and I was also allowed to use them in the proper environment. It's all about education.

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