Answered: Why Not Smart Guns?
A recent editorial on the uber liberal website, NY Times, posed this question to their audience: “why not smart guns in this high-tech era?” I'll attempt to be the voice of the gun-owning community with my reasons as to “why not.”
First, a solid majority of American gun owners are not necessarily opposed to the technology itself. While we may think it is stupid and a massive waste of time and resources, we are certainly not all against it. Many of us are willing to allow such an abomination to exist in order to let the market decide if there is actually a place for “smart gun technology.”
Just so we're on the same page, if there is a market for it, it's so small that it'll be barely measurable … unless we are forced to buy these guns instead of the “old fashioned” guns we can currently get.
Another problem is that we all own smart phones and they don't exactly run flawlessly. In fact, my brand new Galaxy S7 experiences multiple malfunctions on a weekly basis—freezing in the middle of a task and it's literally just a month old as of this writing.
Who's to say that my smart gun wouldn't fail to recognize who I am in the middle of a critical incident? What if I pull my gun out to defend my family and we all get killed because my gun doesn't work?
Or, what if it gets really stupid and decides to discharge on me when I don't intend for it to, when my finger is nowhere near the trigger?
I know it sounds far fetched, but this is a possibility. After all, people use their guns in self-defense every day of the week. Plus, the best safety device isn't located anywhere near your gun, but between your ears.
Furthermore, it's tinfoil hat time …
Let's imagine, for just a moment, that there was civil unrest across the country, or at least a large part of it. As a method of control, the guns could be shut down and rendered useless, whereas old technology would be fine.
Or, let's say that somehow our electricity goes out and there is no way for us to charge these things up? What happens then? See where we're coming from now?
So no, smart gun tech won't likely catch on. Second Amendment supporters are those who won't be told what to do. Nor will they be told which gun to buy. If we don't want to buy a “smart gun” we won't. It really is that simple.
Here is the source article, if you wanted to give it a read. Make sure you leave us a comment at the bottom to let us know what you think, and why you're opposed, or pro, smart gun.
I don’t like the idea of smart guns. Every tech. item I have seems to screw up. Besides it seems like another way for the gov. to be in my business.
The govt. also thinks that “smart” guns will prevent the bad guys using your gun to shoot someone. Good! But they will also prevent my wife or son or daughter from protecting themselves if I am down in a fight.