The personalized firearms that were once heralded as tech's solution to rampant U.S. gun deaths are about to return in 2022.
The news comes from a report that focuses on smart gun makers, which both plan to have products commercially available late this year. SmartGunz claims local law enforcement is testing its own personalized handgun, while LodeStar revealed more details about its 9mm handgun to investors last week. The LodeStar version is geared towards first-time buyers.
The co-founder of LodeStar said that they were at the point where they should go public. We are there.
Smart guns, which typically use technology such as fingerprints, watches, rings, and bracelets to prevent unauthorized users from firing a weapon, could help cut down on the number of suicides caused by children getting their hands on their parents' guns. A verification system could prevent other adults from taking or stealing a weapon and using it to harm themselves or others.
Multiple points of failure is what LodeStar chose for his handgun. It uses a near field communication chip, a physical pin pad, and a fingerprint system, and it's possible that the tech can't be used in wet conditions. SmartGunz told the news agency its system focuses on radio frequency identification.
Smart guns have been around for a while. The first iteration has been around for nearly two decades but has yet to expand beyond the prototype stages. Gun control advocates have expressed concerns over their reliability and gun rights activists fear that the creation of a smart gun could lead to more stringent firearm regulations.
The biggest names in the firearm industry are largely absent from the smart gun conversation. Smith & Wesson, one of the country's largest gun manufacturers, did ink an agreement with the U.S. government to roll out child safe triggers and develop smart guns in 2000, but those efforts faced fervent pushback from the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups. The gunmaker abandoned its smart gun plans because of falling sales and stock prices. Since that point, traditional firearms giants have steered clear of the smart guns, forcing smaller upstarts to do the heavy lifting on research, development, and commercialization.
It is not clear whether American gun owners want these types of weapons in the first place. According to a survey of U.S. gun owners featured in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, around 79% of gun owners who were aware of smart guns said they thought licensed dealers should sell both traditional and personalized smart guns. When asked if they would buy one of these smart guns, only 5% said they were very likely and only 13% said they were somewhat likely. Only half of gun owners knew about the technology. It makes sense that LodeStar is geared its products towards first-time buyers.
There are other tech related to firearms seeing a resurgence. The Los Angeles Police Department reported an increase in 3D-printed ghost guns last year. Ghost guns are sold in kits that are assembled by a buyer, often using a receiver or other complement that has been created with a 3D printer, and without a traceable serial number, unlike traditional firearms that are sold as one complete unit.
In a statement released late last year, the Los Angeles Police Department claimed it had seized more than 800 ghost guns in the first half of the year, which was a nearly 300% increase over the amount it seized in the first half of the previous year, according to the LA Times. The department warned that if proper regulation was not in place, seizures of ghost guns could grow rapidly. In Philadelphia, authorities seized 250 ghost guns in 2020, up from 99 the year before, according to The New York Times.
If smart gun manufacturers like LodeStar can bring a product to market in the coming months and ghost guns continue their upward trajectory, it could be a crucial year for tech and firearms. The extent to which current regulations apply to firearms using new technologies could lead to a renewed debate over additional firearm legislation.
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