Obama calls for smart guns

Legion Troll

Legion Troll

A fine upstanding poster
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President Barack Obama announced new steps Friday to help curb gun violence, including by identifying the requirements that "smart guns" would have to meet for law enforcement agencies to buy and use them as well as sharing mental health records with the federal background check system.

Smart guns use various technologies to prevent an accidental shooting or help track down a missing gun.

"These common-sense steps are not going to prevent every tragedy, but what if they prevented even one?" Obama wrote in a Facebook post. "We should be doing everything we can to save lives and spare families the pain and unimaginable loss too many Americans have endured."

As Obama unveiled a plan last January to expand federal background checks for gun purchases, he directed the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Justice to conduct or sponsor research into smart-gun technology. Obama also instructed the agencies to regularly review the availability of such technology and to promote its use.

In a report released Friday, the Justice and Homeland Security departments said they expect to complete the work of identifying the smart-gun requirements by October.

The Defense Department will continue to help manufacturers test smart firearms under real-world conditions at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center in Maryland. Gun makers could also be eligible to win cash prizes through the program. The federal government will also continue to help state and local governments as smart-gun technology develops, the report said.

"Many gun injuries and deaths are the result of legal guns that were stolen, misused, or discharged accidentally," Obama said. "As long as we've got the technology to prevent a criminal from stealing and using your smartphone, then we should be able to prevent the wrong person from pulling a trigger on a gun."

The president also called for more attention to be paid to the mentally ill. The Social Security Administration will publish a proposed rule to help ensure that mental health records about people who are prohibited from buying a gun are reported to the background check system. The public will have 60 days to comment after the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register.

Obama also said the White House will hold a conference in May on preventing gun violence.




http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/obama-announces-new-steps-to-reduce-gun-violence/article_89c03a63-69b1-5a75-8a70-d8a2af6334db.html
 
Most of the concerns revolve around the safety of the technology and how it will be tested.

“Police officers in general, federal officers in particular, shouldn’t be asked to be the guinea pigs in evaluating a firearm that nobody’s even seen yet,” James Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, told Politico.
Click to expand...

I guess us low life civilian scum are suitable for being guinea pigs then?????

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...t-gun-tech-despite-concerns.html?intcmp=hpbt3
 
Meanwhile, moving away from that fascinating diversion...


"Smart guns" utilize fingerprints or wireless signals to ensure they can only be used by their owners.

According to a study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 59 percent of people who responded to a survey of nearly 4,000 said they were interested in "smart guns".

Such guns exist, says Stephen Teret, founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research and an expert on "personalized gun" technology. The difficulty has been bringing them to market.

"Smart guns," use various technologies — including RFID chips, fingerprint recognition, magnetic rings or locks — to prevent anyone other than an authorized user from firing the weapon.

One company — Armatix — has smart guns ready for sale, but there are quite a few manufacturers that are on the verge of producing the guns. All they have been waiting for is a substantial purchase order.

"There is no problem that America's innovators cannot solve and we are confident that by focusing the private sector's attention on smart gun technology we will unlock life-saving innovations," White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett said.

The administration is, for the first time, trying to put in place the requirements needed so law enforcement could eventually use smart guns. It's using findings in a new report from the Defense, Homeland Security and Justice Departments — agencies that were directed in January to look into the matter.

The report establishes criteria for procuring smart guns with a due date in the fall and the Department of Defense has agreed to test the technology at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center in Maryland. The White House will also ramp up grants to fund smart gun technology.

The White House also plans to boost funding to continue the push for gun safety.

"If we can set it up so you can't unlock your phone unless you've got the right fingerprint," Obama said as he unveiled executive action, "why can't we do the same thing for our guns?"



http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/are-smart-guns-answer-america-s-gun-problem-n564396
 
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