A Smarter Gun

A Smarter Gun

2017, Technology  -   22 Comments
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Ratings: 7.56/10 from 43 users.

Over the years, smart technologies have made computers more intuitive, household appliances more automated, and machines more efficient. So why haven't they been embraced by the gun industry? A Smarter Gun profiles the figures on the forefront of the movement to make guns safer, and the resistance that blocks their efforts at every turn.

Smart guns are equipped with fingerprint or radio-frequency-based recognition technologies, and will only operate in the hands of approved users. It may sound like an exciting concept worthy of exploration, yet very few smart gun models actually exist. Companies like Colt and Smith & Wesson - both behemoths of the gun industry - have toyed with the concept in the past, but they recoiled from these initiatives once they were met with vociferous opposition from various gun rights organizations and fragments of the general population. For the time being, the status quo in gun manufacturing remains defiantly mechanical and low-tech.

The antiquated nature of gun design is actually a major selling point for the weapon's most ardent enthusiasts. It's proven, reliable and extremely simple for anyone to operate. Introducing new intelligent technologies only leaves a gun more vulnerable to malfunction. Would you want to leave your life to chance when faced with an attacker or intruder intent on causing you harm? In addition, if this technology is fully embraced and allowed an opportunity to evolve, some foresee a future where these guns are mandated by the government, and no other options will be allowed. This is a concept that many gun sellers and owners view as an unacceptable form of socialism.

But in the age of mass murder and accidental shootings, the fight wages on. Proponents believe the technology provides a common-sense approach to curbing these tragic incidents, and that it does nothing to infringe upon the rights of law-abiding gun owners. Developers continue to build upon their designs, and attempt to construct an intelligent gun that meets the needs and desires of everyone.

By engaging with an array of people who stand on all sides of the issue - including the manufacturers, gun shop owners, users and victims of gun violence - A Smarter Gun provides a well-rounded and fair-minded look at this ongoing debate.

Directed by: Lara Neintz

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God Death
God Death
19 days ago

You don't want me to mention it, Do you? That, Today weapons are in the wrong hands. I mean, Army, Navy, Airforce, Etc...

Frank Clarke
Frank Clarke
3 years ago

If smart guns are the answer to a working girl's prayer, let's mandate them for all police and give them a real "trial by fire". If they work there, lots of objections will fall by the wayside.

john schlosser
john schlosser
4 years ago

wont ever happen

Phil
Phil
4 years ago

Smart guns are already here. Just look at Tracking Point for example, this company has developed a gun that will not fire after you pull the trigger until the software running inside it decides when the barrel is in perfect alignment with the chosen aimpoint. There is no direct mechanical connection between the trigger and the sear. And they seem to have no issues with reliability. At another level, there are pistol safes that are designed to use biometrics in order to unlock quickly, without needing to remember a combination or fumble with a key. Will anyone argue against smart tech if it's used inside a taser or mace canister? My sister was just showing me a taser that has a lanyard you put around your wrist - if the taser is grabbed & taken from you, the lanyard pulls free & renders the taser useless. I could imagine a lot of police officers who might like such a device to work with their side holsters. In a warzone where weapons get lost or misplaced & wind up in the hands of the enemy, it would be nice if those weapons refuse to operate. But what I really would like is to have my house & car automatically lock & unlock depending on if I am there or not. So I see all this smart gun tech as the solution for what I would like to have. The Dangerous Things implant seems a bit clumsy. It's larger than I care for. Plus it's not entirely true that it's only activated from short range. I would rather have artificial intelligence making the call

Ali
Ali
6 years ago

C'mon. Its not a rocket science to invent or innovate the already existing technology to make guns safer. For example the person authorised to use guns must have to have an RF implant for limited proximity. Any gun(s) also carrying unique codes can be activated or deactivated, added or removed by authorities for any person having the implant. I think having a body implant is a small price to pay if you really need to use gun(s).

Herbert Azure
Herbert Azure
6 years ago

Gun are smart technology ... hahahaha

DustUp
DustUp
6 years ago

@Eric Gorall. You are exactly what Marx and Alinsky (Hillary and Obama's Marxist idol and game plan writer "Rules For Radicals") taught you to be. A liar. Lie and lie some more until they believe it "because the people would never go for it if you told them the truth", he wrote. Democrat leadership which have been full blown Socialists for some time now, are forever trying to take our rights. All the major national democrat candidates are for GUN CONTROL which means CONfiscation. If you deny this you are lying. Who are you trying to fool but another low information voter (the major media severely limits the information you get if that is all you watch or read). No doubt the so called progressive republicans (rinos) would vote for that just like they did Obama Care if there were going to be enough votes to pass.

Read the voluminous Obama Care bill, it takes many rights away. It was written by the Democrats-Socialists long before Obama was even a candidate, waiting for the time they thought they could pass it. Reagan warned that they would try. You can listen to his speech on youtube about how national healthcare would be the tool the Socialists would use to worm their way into incrementally taking over everything. How did Reagan know and predict this? He used to be a democrat same as Trump. The very reason Trump was elected, to curb and reverse that Socialist advance which has already been ruinous to the once great usa.

Few Democrats realize their party is the party of slavery, of the Southern plantation owners. Republicans freed the slaves and now you'd think it the other way around, simply due to slick lies of the liberals who are still lying hard and keeping us all enslaved by dribbling handouts to buy votes and keeping the economy down so you need those handouts, rather than creating good opportunity so you don't need them or anyone.

Yet another right they have been removing is free speech. The liberal colleges don't allow conservatives to address their students. That is a fact. They claim it could cause a riot or damage and require huge money for liability insurance and security, which they don't require of the liberal speakers. Russia was right, they would take us over without firing a shot. Then there is this BS called "Hate Speech" and "Hate Crimes" which is nothing more than a means of getting folks fired or putting folks in jail for voicing their opinion or defending themselves. Who determines that it is hateful, a Socialist judge. Or like Jimmy the Greek, if I recall, who spoke the truth about the crossbred slave ancestry causing the great athletes of today. That is a well known genetic fact of crossbreeding. Fired. There have been cases of self defense convoluted into a hate crime. Like the thug Michael Brown in Ferguson going for the cops gun. You can see his thuggery escapades on Youtube since his cohorts took videos of some of them. The demonrats bused in all the uproar to Ferguson.

Are the conservatives doing this? No. We just want to be uninfringed upon. Do we want govt going to war over oil and pipeline routes or to prevent Saddam and Qaddafi from selling oil in currencies other than US dollars cutting out the bankster currency exchange fees? No. We don't want our young dying for oil company, bankster, and military supplier profits. We just want to be left alone and have the means to protect ourselves from anyone.

You have lied again. Twisting the words of the commenter on Sandy Hook who told it correctly.
Do your OWN homework and turn off the propaganda. Much of that homework can be done right here on this website.

The truly sad part is, the major media propagandized brainwashed believe those who do a little homework, uncover the lies, and can see what is going on, are the brainwashed. That is the power of media propaganda and those who chose to limit themselves to propaganda as my friends on the left exclusively do. Their world view cannot handle facts so they refuse to look at any.

You are wrong again, I don't watch Fox. Nor any major media, it is all BS. There are several good independent news services on the internet, thankfully. Unfortunately some bad propaganda littered ones as well, much like your posting.

Common sense
Common sense
6 years ago

The idea of a smart gun is ridiculous. If people would just keep their guns locked away from children, like every firearms instructor in the world will tell you to do, then there is no need for this technology. If someone is going to 'mass shoot' an area, this technology will not prevent that. This is a classic example of people having no accountability for their actions. Shifting responsibility from humans to technology is not acceptable. This technology is only appealing to people who have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to firearms and firearm safety. You should educate yourself before you advocate for something you know nothing about. There is a reason that all these people who are familiar with and respect firearms and follow all the rules that they hammer into you since day one of firearm ownership are against this technology.

flybow
flybow
6 years ago

If americans are so desperate to have the right to bear arms, wear a tee shirt.

Eric Gorall
Eric Gorall
6 years ago

1. Democrats aren't looking to take peoples rights away. That's just fear mongering.

2. Using terms like "Marxist" and "false flag" indicates ignorance in the modern world. Using terms like Marxist or Liberal or Socialist to try to insult someone on the Left may mean something to you if you just listen to conservative AM radio or a few commentators on Fox News but it rings entirely hollow on the other side. It means nothing and might elicit a smirk.

3. Crime has consistently been falling by all measurables over the last 20-25 years. Please do your research.

4. Sandy Hook. I'm surprised there's still tin-hats that still buy into it as a fake operation and no real children were murdered. Shameful. I hope you don't have any children that are murdered and then someone starts a rumor that it was all staged and you actually never had any children. Same thing.

5. No gun rights have been eroded away. What guns can you not have now that you could ten years ago? Twenty years?

6. There's no good reason not to have bio-locks on personal firearms. It would prevent suicides by non-owners of those guns, it would prevent someone from stealing it and using your gun, etc. It would prevent children from discovering it and using it as a toy or firing it for whatever reason by mistake. Supporting the NRA's position for preventing any bio-lock is simply inhumane.

Jay Steff
Jay Steff
6 years ago

Did you see the face of the moderator as he squeezed the trigger on the guns he test fired?
Wonder if he drives a car like that?
Cars are far more deadly by the numbers used to deaths per incident.
What about the "carbon footprint" the moderator uses to make his video's?
Most gun deaths are caused by criminals and/or suicides. How are you going to stop those?

DustUp
DustUp
6 years ago

First challenge the premise: Mass murder. What about them? Watch the docu on here about the Movie Theater shooter; Batman airing in Colorado I think. Then look at all the other mass murders in the usa. All but 2, including that one, occurred in No Gun zones, so a law abiding or policy abiding citizen not allowed to prevent a shooting from becoming a mass shooting. Further, like at that Theater shooting set up of a clueless drugged ghost/shell, was the gun the problem? Not at all. Not one witness saw him in the theater. Just lucky the false flag weasels who set up the fall guy didn't use a bomb; except that wasn't their agenda. Marxists (those who require gun rights to be removed before they can enact what they really want to do to you) always try to make fun of those who say make everyone carry in a terrorist target location, then what idiot will start shooting and how many will they get? The false flag purps may just get a head full of lead, and we can't have that. Society would find a new found respect for the other guy instead of being in your face jerks.

The biggest hair puller is that I know many a democrat or liberal who want the right to have a gun for protection (and they have them) yet they vote for those who want to take that right away. And if you ask them, they are much brighter than any conservative who merely wants to conserve their rights.

The emotionally indoctrinated will always fall for any violin string.

Roger Andout
Roger Andout
6 years ago

Anyone against even the idea of trying to develop such a device really needs to think about the concept of firing a gun even in self defence; it must be a rational decision.
Yeah, and start a movement to ban the safety catch!!!

rosalinda
rosalinda
6 years ago

Martin is right on about going to a "smart" gun. It really bothers me that people have become like sheep, "no brainers" anymore. Why in the world would they just give up "their" smarts to an "object"? They then get lazy, because now they do not have to think, just react to pushing a button or making a sound to have something done? So now the smart things are telling the human "dummies" or no smarts, what and how to do the thing they want done. This is evolution of the "WORST KIND"!

Martin Hedington
Martin Hedington
6 years ago

See now that's the thing about smart tech, if your smart phone or washing machine malfunctions, you might get dirty washing or miss a call, if your smart gun fails, you might very well get killed. Slight difference.

Reality Check
Reality Check
6 years ago

The team that put this documentary together along with Ernst Mauch clearly don't understand why the American public is so incredibly opposed to restrictions such as "smart" controls in their firearms. The entire rational for gun ownership rights being included in the American Constitution is so that under a tyrannical change in leadership ( which has been a very common occurance throughout history), the protection that one's firearms offers is questionable when your gun's ability to shoot is potentially compromised by external signals. American's privacy & free speech are also protected but, as we now witness, these rights have been rationalized away and Americans are no longer afforded these protected rights. The government promised to keep American's privacy protected and then, without telling anyone, the FBI & CIA forced Apple, Microsoft and other computer/smartphone companies to hardwire "back doors" into the devices. We now know this via the recent Vault 7 Wikileaks revelations. If the government proves to be liars about things like this, Americans will never allow their last line of protection to be compromised by becoming "smart".

Thomas Hackney
Thomas Hackney
6 years ago

Great doc! Would love to show my Korean high school students but need to find subs. Anyone know how to get them? Thanks

rawhunger
rawhunger
6 years ago

No... guns don't kill people. Bullets don't kill people. Idiots WITH guns and bullets kill people.

Carlos spicywiener
Carlos spicywiener
6 years ago

Guns dont kill people, bullets do

danny
danny
6 years ago

no problem with smart gun great for safety concerns ,possibility of electronic jaming like radar device . but i like old school

Johnny
Johnny
6 years ago

The main problem is mass media always airing stories about VIOLENCE which then influences people to use guns in crimes. Mass media is the reason crime rates will keep rising which will result in all the good citizens losing gun rights. Also another thing is corrupt government behind giving criminals guns and staging terror attacks...one of the recent mass shooting - Sandy Hook was staged therefore innocent people were killed.