Which has no bearing on the quarter million the taxpayers have to spend to show exactly how stupid it is
The Department of Justice has awarded a $254,889 federal grant to the New Jersey Institute of Technology so the Newark university can continue developing its child-proof "smart gun" technology, members of New Jersey's congressional delegation announced today. NJIT has spent the last nine years on a "dynamic grip recognition" technology that can identify gun owners based on how they squeeze the trigger. The technology uses sensors located in the gun to identify unconscious, reflexive actions unique to each person and then decides whether the gunman is authorized to fire the weapon. University officials say it works 99 percent of the time when paired with an off-the-shelf handgun outfitted with green and red lights to indicate whether the embedded circuitry decided to fire or not. They have tested it successfully with shooters wearing gloves, under timed conditions to simulate stressful conditions and using alternate hands.
The Department of Justice has awarded a $254,889 federal grant to the New Jersey Institute of Technology so the Newark university can continue developing its child-proof "smart gun" technology, members of New Jersey's congressional delegation announced today.
NJIT has spent the last nine years on a "dynamic grip recognition" technology that can identify gun owners based on how they squeeze the trigger. The technology uses sensors located in the gun to identify unconscious, reflexive actions unique to each person and then decides whether the gunman is authorized to fire the weapon.
University officials say it works 99 percent of the time when paired with an off-the-shelf handgun outfitted with green and red lights to indicate whether the embedded circuitry decided to fire or not. They have tested it successfully with shooters wearing gloves, under timed conditions to simulate stressful conditions and using alternate hands.
Yeah, nothing could possibly go wrong with that system.
I have a hard time believing that it can detect grips with 99% accuracy. If that were the case, they'd be using that kind of technology with high security doors and whatnot. Inside a lab doesn't simulate real life. You might not have the opportunity to get a perfect grip before you need to pull off a shot.
However, for this discussion, let's assume it really is 99% accurate. What happens in that 1% when it doesn't work?
When a firearm fails, it's generally a bad round. A quick rack of the slide, or in the case of a revolver, another pull of the trigger is all that's needed to get it back into working conditions. When the batteries die, will the system prevent you from protecting yourself? When the batteries die in my laser sight, I still have irons to back me up. And if the iron sights fell off, I still could put a round downrange if need be.
However, let's just say that this technology is perfect. The batteries are powered by unicorn farts and last a million years, the sensors never fail because they are constructed out of the highest quality fairy assholes, and it simply will not fire in anyone else's hands except yours or, through the built in mind reading capabilities, anyone you authorize since it's possible that a firearm can be used by family members to protect themselves.
How much is that going to cost? I have a sneaky suspicion that due to the EPA requirements of raising unicorns for their flatulence increased effort to create a system that complex and the liability that goes with it that the $600 Glock is now going to be over $1,000. To those putting money into the system, that's a feature not a bug.
Now, once this technology is "approved", it's useless unless every new firearm has the system in place. Who would spend $1,000+ on the Taurus Electro-Safe when they could get the exact same weapon without the safety system for much less? The product wouldn't sell unless Uncle Sam stepped in and required it.
Now that Uncle Sam has discarded even more rights, let's talk about the 270,000,000 other firearms out there that do not have this whiz-bang system. It doesn't take much of a stretch to make the "common sense legislation" that declares those weapons unsafe. Now, owning a non-smart weapon will be illegal. Turn in 'em boys, unless you want jail time.
That's my problem with smart guns. I would never buy one, nor would 99.9% of other gun owners. Those idiots who don't care enough about their kids to teach them safety or keep the pistols out of reach aren't going to be going out and dropping major coin for them either. So the only way to make them worth while is to force them onto the public.
And I've got a 1000 to 1 bet that cops won't use them nor be required. Why? It's too dangerous to have a firearm that fails at the wrong time. And if it's a problem for cops, it's a problem for everyone.
If Kimber wants to spend their own money developing this stuff, the market will reward or punish them. But when Uncle Sam takes the money out of his nieces' and nephews' pockets to pay for it, there is no punishment for failure. The reward for success, however, costs us our freedom and rights.