Sorry, I have to start a gun thread. Only to call out lunatics.

[krispos42]

54. There is a downside... reliability

Any gun made by any reputable gun makes in the last few decades is extremely reliable. As long as you perform due diligence in maintenance and use decent, properly-loaded ammunition, it's going to be extremely reliable when shit hits the fan. The purely mechanical gun is a refined design, whether a semiauto or a revolver, and can be counted on to perform in a crisis.


Now this electrical and radio system adds all the potential failings associated with things like batteries and circuit boards and wiring. The user has to wear a watch to shoot the gun. The user has to input a PIN on the watch to authorize the gun and select a time span with which the gun will work.

The power question alone is a major issue, never mind about radio-wave blind spots and the requirement to wear a special article of jewelery.

Other people in the video are talking about palm-print scanners. Really? How is that going to work reliably and quickly? And how much battery power will this thing require to operate?

And if a smart gun is stolen, how long will it take to defeat the lockout mechanism? Will we be seeing smart guns with the mechanism bypassed in the hands of criminals? Probably.


Notice that the cops aren't using smart guns... why is that? The NYPD has some 30,000 cops; that's a market of 30,000 smart guns that is going to waste. Do you think the rank-and-file police officers would enjoy having smart guns forced upon them? If they wouldn't like it, why would you assume the gun-buying public will?




The final issue is one of choice. Mandating "smart guns" will produce a consumer backlash of people that can no longer buy the guns they are comfortable and familiar with, but are instead forced to purchase a single type of gun from a single, government-created monopoly.


If you want biometrics, you can put them on the gun safe where you store your purely-mechanical firearms.