Renewed push for smart guns could trigger a new furor over the technology

[sarisataka]

Renewed push for smart guns could trigger a new furor over the technology

After vehement protests helped block the nation’s first smart gun from entering the marketplace, proponents of the technology are gearing up for another fight, intent on capitalizing on renewed interest in gun safety following a spate of high-profile shootings.

Ernst Mauch, the renowned German firearms engineer who designed the gun but left its manufacturer, is in the United States this week exploring starting a company to build another smart gun, perhaps with one of his previous competitors.

Mauch wants to persuade police groups to back the technology, which lets only authorized users fire guns, hoping that will assure Second Amendment advocates and consumers that smart guns should be embraced, not rejected. The head of the International Association of Chiefs of Police said this week that agencies are eager to test and perhaps adopt smart guns.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in New Jersey are considering doing away with a controversial law mandating that all firearms sold in the state be smart guns if one were sold anywhere in the United States. Gun industry groups, particularly the National Rifle Association, fiercely oppose the law. An announcement about the mandate is expected Monday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/renewed-push-for-smart-guns-could-trigger-a-new-furor-over-the-technology/2015/10/21/156451a4-7813-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc_story.html

Wonder how this will play out. Getting the police to prove it works (as was suggested here) but it would require removing a gun control law that actually obstructs developing smartgun technology...

[randys1]

1. Like climate change, this is an area a person could profit from by doing the right thing

go green or go smart, both times one could profit off of new technology.

[jimmy the one]

2. one state law holds country hostage?

OP: Wonder how this will play out.. would require removing a gun control law that actually obstructs developing smartgun technology.

It's apparently a conditional gun control state law; actually isn't really in effect, only passively. Perhaps an aesthetic compromise somehow. It appears to be binding only to New Jersey residents, forcing them to switch to smart guns if a single smart gun is sold anywhere in USA. I don't understand how this really 'obstructs' developing smartgun technology, even tho ceasefire wants it repealed:

oct 22, Thursday, 2015: ... lawmakers in New Jersey are considering doing away with a controversial law mandating that all firearms sold in the state be smart guns if one were sold anywhere in {US}. Gun industry groups, particularly the NRA, fiercely oppose the law. An announcement about the mandate is expected Monday.
The New Jersey mandate was cited in both protests, with fears that other states would follow, fundamentally altering the firearms industry. But now New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D), the sponsor of the law, appears ready to remove the biggest obstacle in the marketplace.
Asked whether she would soon end the mandate, Weinberg said: “We haven’t finalized anything yet. I will be ready to make an announcement on Monday.” {presume oct 26}
Ralph Fascitelli, CeaseFire, a prominent Seattle group working to reduce gun violence, said “nobody is going to look at this again until the mandate is resolved.” And now that the mandate might be going away, Fascitelli is organizing a coalition of interested parties to make another run at bringing smart guns to market.

seattle weekly: .. Fascitelli, who says Washington CeaseFire would also like to see the {NJ} mandate repealed because of its counterproductive effect.

One state holds the country hostage? I can understand New Jersey (quick edit) gun owners opposing the NJ 'law', but how does it affect Washington state? or Rest of USA?

consider the sources: A poll earlier this year of gun owners by a market research firm showed that 40% would “swap” their guns for smart guns.
But a 2013 poll by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gun manufacturers, showed 81% of more than 1,200 people polled said they wouldn’t buy a smart gun.

[sarisataka]

6. Whether or not it is a factual or

merely psychological obstruction, wouldn't it be a very small compromise to remove one inactive law from one state to encourage development and acceptance of smart gun technology on a national level?

[Eleanors38]

3. Develop the tech. Put it on the market. Nothing wrong with that.

[sarisataka]

7. Historically civilian handgun trends

have mirrored law enforcement. If cops start using smart guns, it is a safe bet there will be a civilian demand for them as well.

[krispos42]

4. I have a Samsung Galaxy S5, with the fingerprint scanner.

If I was to compare its success rate to a firearm, I'd say it was in "flintlock musket" territory.

Now try to imagine having that success rate on a gun, in a situation where fractions of a second separate the dead from the living.

Then imagine selling it to, say, the U.S. Marshals or the Secret Service.

[Logical]

5. Technology gets better, people did not trust semi-autos initially either. Nt

[beevul]

8. Semi-autos aren't subject to...

Semi-autos aren't even potentially subject to software glitches, dead batteries, emp, jamming, or lord knows what else.

Would you propose the same 'smart' tech to fire trucks and fire extinguishers.

I sure wouldn't.

[Logical]

9. In 10 years cars will drive themselves. Jets can land themselves. Can't stop it. nt

[krispos42]

10. Future tense is the operative form here.

There are a vast variety of handguns in all shapes, sizes, calibers, mechanisms, finishes, and accessories. Simply because ONE maker produces ONE type of smart gun doesn't mean this stuff of about to take over the gun world.

It's going to be quite a while. And then you have a hundred million "dumb" handguns to replace on this country. And the people that buy "smart" guns simply aren't going to melt down their "dumb" guns either. They're going to sell them to afford the "smart" gun!

[NutmegYankee]

12. Semi-auto handguns got proven by military use.

Once they were shown to be highly reliable the civilian market took off.

The same can happen for smart guns, but first the military and police need to prove the technology is reliable.

[spin]

13. What really helped was the first Assault Weapons Ban. ...

Prior to that legislation, revolvers were more popular than semiautomatic pistols and bolt action rifles far more popular than evil looking black semiautomatic rifles such as the AR15.

Since the AWB really didn't ban anything, interest in semiautomatic firearms spiked during the time frame the ban was in effect. Manufacturers responded by introducing new models and significantly improving quality.

That seems to be what always happens when something is "banned." People suddenly want to own the banned item.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. Wake me up when the police start using it as a standard service weapon.

A couple of cops shooting a smart gun on a police range may prove something. When cops patrol with a smart gun as their only firearm, then I'll be impressed.

One problem is, if police departments adopt this new gun as their standard weapon, they turn over all their previous guns to gun shops for resale.