Well-Intentioned? Maybe. But This Smart Gun Won’t Stop Mass Shootings

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Smart guns. You might have heard the term. Essentially, a “smart gun” is a gun that has some kind of computerized component that affects how the weapon performs. In the same way that computers in cars can adjust the air/fuel mix and other factors to maximize performance or mileage, a smart gun’s electronics affect the way that the gun can be used.

One of the primary pushes for smart guns comes from those who want to prevent mass shootings. That’s an admirable goal. Decreasing the number of people killed is a good thing. However, smart guns, up to this point, haven’t fixed the problem that they are seeking to fix.

A new prototype smart gun hopes to change that failure trend. But still fails. Meredith Yeomans writes,

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The 10 Plano and Frisco high-schoolers are in a program called DiscoverSTEM where students identify real-world problems and try to fix them.

Their most recent creation: A smart gun aimed at stopping mass shootings.

“We realized that at home we have a really grave problem,” said Amina Syeda, a senior at Frisco’s Liberty High School.

The Secure Gun is a modified Nerf gun.

A camera on the front uses artificial intelligence to detect if a gun is pointed at a person, crowd, animal or target.

If aimed at a person or crowd, the gun limits the amount of times you can pull the trigger.

“You still are allowed to do one bullet every 20 seconds so you still are allowed to use self-defense so it’s still going to work,” said Shahid.

GPS on the gun would create geo-fences, stopping it from firing in certain locations like schools and churches.

“We realize that this will offend some people but the thing is you have to have compromise … you have to have a compromise in order to have the better of humanity,” said Hanzala Rehan, a senior at Plano West High School.

The Secure Gun, they say, would be built into new guns and a version would be made to be retrofitted onto existing guns.

The prototype and any implementation – they know – has a long way to go.

But their sites are set on turning the tricked-out toy into in a solution to a serious problem.

The Secure Gun placed in the top five at a competition with innovations from 45 countries.

A patent for the device is pending.

Now, I’m not going to pick on the fact that these students made this prototype using a Nerf gun (they’re focusing on the electronics, not on the firearm aspect in their design efforts). But I’m disturbed that these students chose to focus on something that is less dangerous than they think.

Frankly, the fact is that these poor high school students have been fed a one-sided heap of misinformation and outright lies supporting gun control so that they know nothing about the defensive uses of firearms. Instead of wasting time on this, they could be using this same kind of technology to help vehicles avoid accidents, and, frankly, this would save many more lives than gun control.

Secondly, like all gun control efforts, these kids have bought into the idea that they can prevent other guns (not equipped with this technology) from being available to criminals. That’s a huge fail even now. Any criminal can get their hands on a gun at any time.

Thirdly, I predict that this technology, if it is actually implemented at all, is going to be integrated in firearms to improve their aim. It’s going to go through modifications and be put to military use. In other words, this technology will become the basis of other technologies and will be used to make more accurate weapons.

In other words, this technology won’t prevent gun violence and may very well, in the future, make gun violence worse (after all, gang bangers aren’t usually well-trained with firearms, so anything that makes firearms more accurate with less effort on their part is going to make the gang banger more dangerous). This prototype smart gun may be well-intentioned, but it is a definite gun control fail.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. So tell me what Criminal is going to buy one or allow his weapon to be Modified to the point he can only fire one round every Twenty seconds if that’s the best they have to offer. These Children need lessons in cold hard FACT’s CRIMINAL’s are CRIMINAL’s because they don’t obey the Laws that most everyone else in a Civilized Society does. But hell lets not point out that FLAW in their Concept that could actually cause more deaths in a Mass Shooting not less.

  2. Maybe the police in large metro areas need these “smart guns”, that way they can only hurt one ididndonuffin every 20 seconds(assuming they can hit a target), this would keep countless “innocent” bystanders from being shot by the popo.
    This is my (sarc) face ‘o’

  3. “YOU STILL ARE ALLOWED TO DO ONE BULLET EVERY 20 SECONDS SO YOU STILL ARE ALLOWED TO USE SELF-DEFENSE SO IT’S STILL GOING TO WORK,” SAID SHAHID.
    Arrgh! Fire one round, and what can happen to you in 20 seconds? How long does it take for another one of the gang to move 10-20 ft towards you and hit you on the head with a brick or stab you? 5 seconds? Probably less.

    Then there’s the technical aspect. Given a gun with all this built in – how much trouble would it be to stop it from working? Just remove the battery? (Oh – if removing the battery disables the gun, then that’s a stinko defense weapon which can be relied on except if you charge or change the battery frequently.) If the electronics portion simply blocked the striker or firing pin, then a bit of work with an electric drill could remove that. If the electronics was actually needed to fire the gun (maybe via a solenoid) then a)we’re back to a large battery which would make the gun difficult to carry/use, or b) just cut the wire to the solenoid and attach a switch – and presto, one can fire it without the camera, computer, timer, …

    As for me, my suggestion is to make defense guns which follow the ones described in “The Weapon Shops of Isher” which respond to the shooter’s brain waves and will only fire if the shooter is truly shooting for defense! A. E. van Vogt knew what was needed!

  4. What a stupid idea. Blame the gun and not the person. The way to stop mass shootings is with an armed populace.

  5. Ok so the guy who stopped the mass shooter in the church wouldn’t be able to?? If a person fires and misses with his first shot..because it happens..they must run away from an armed dangerous perp for 20 sec before they can try and save their own lives again?? This idea is more than a fail..its an epic fail..
    Kinda takes the whole self defense portion out of owning the gun…not to mention,its made by high school students fail fail fail

  6. Instead of “smart” guns what about smart police? A gun is only as smart as its user. Thugs kill for sport. So why make the innocent defenseless, with a smart gun that can only be used by the owner, when, in most cases others in the home may need to use it also?

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