The Obama administration released a multi-part plan late last week to spur further research into making reliable smart gun technology and potentially integrating it into law enforcement in the future.

The smart guns the report specifies are firearms that have some form of safety technology that only allows authorized people to fire the weapon. This could be a biometric fingerprint scanner on a grip that only allows the gun to fire when there's a match or a gun that can only be fired when in close proximity to a connected bracelet or ring.

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Smart gun tech could be beneficial for law enforcement -- it's certainly not unheard of for suspects or criminals to attempt to use them against the officers. It would also prevent inexperienced people or children from firing the weapon.

Developing smart guns

A part of the plan, which is titled "Report to the President Outlining a Strategy to Expedite Deployment of Gun Safety Technology," is to stimulate research and production of smart guns by monetarily incentivizing private gun manufacturers to explore smart technology for guns, whether that tech is an add-on or integrated into the gun itself.

The U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) and National Institute of Justice have been collecting paper submissions of gun safety tech from gun manufacturers, of which two designs made it through to a second testing phase with a cash prize. Making it through more extensive firing tests will net more cash rewards for the manufacturers Armatix and Protobench, LLC. 

Weapon recovery tech is a sort of Find My iPhone for guns.

ATC and NIJ are also looking for weapon recovery technology -- a sort of Find My iPhone for guns. If a law enforcement officer's weapon is lost or stolen, they would be able to locate it. The tracking tech could also collect data on when a gun is drawn or fired, with the potential of automatically alerting officers when a gun is fired.

If the government is successful in prodding manufacturers into creating firearms that utilize smart technology, they will consider bringing the weapons to law enforcement with cost-helping programs for local- and state-level departments.

Setting law enforcement standards

The Obama administration wants to nail down the exact definition of what a smart gun is and the specifications that need to be met for use by law enforcement. 

To do this, the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security will gather firearms experts in law enforcement and some private manufacturers to get a list of specifications complete by the end of the year.

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The government is looking at setting standards for a multitude of categories around smart gun technology. They want firearms that are reliable and durable, very similar in design to current firearms, don't require extensive training, are difficult for criminals to crack, don't cost too much and allow for multiple users.

The hurdles

One of the biggest issues in developing smart guns is that it has been tried numerous times, but has yet to be a success. The report states that the DoJ has given over $12 million in funding to multiple manufacturers since 1997 to develop smart guns, and none of them have panned out. 

A few small-scale producers have made smart guns, including Armatix's Smart System wristband, Kodiak's Intelligun add-on fingerprint sensor, and iGun Technology's M-2000 shotgun and proximity ring. None of these were mentioned in the report as being considered for widespread law enforcement use.

The people who want smart gun technology aren't the same people who buy guns.

Incentives from NIJ could see manufacturers making $15,000, but that may not be enough to really justify spending time and resources on a project that may not ultimately net a profit. Although if manufacturers pass the standards being set by the DoJ and DHS, they could see big sales numbers from law enforcement. Another problem is the people who want smart gun technology aren't the same people who buy guns, Mashable reported in late 2015. Diving into research and production of smart gun technology doesn't make sense for manufacturers who don't think the guns will sell very well.

The opposition

While smart gun technology seems like a positive step in many ways, there are those who oppose the advancement of gun safety technology. The National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action released a statement about the Obama administration's push for smart guns.

"President Obama's obsession with gun control knows no boundaries,” director of public affairs Jennifer Baker said. “At a time when we are actively fighting terrorists at home and abroad, this administration would rather focus the military's efforts on the president’s gun control agenda."

The NRA doesn't make a compelling argument there, but it brings up an interesting point with this tweet:

The smart technology would certainly require training on the part of officers, but they wouldn't likely be used for the first time while out on patrol. Undoubtedly, law enforcement departments would hold training so that officers are as prepared and educated as they are with non-smart guns.

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Opposition to implementing smart guns mainly lines in the fact that they are sometimes unreliable -- fingerprint sensors could give false positives or false negatives, proximity technology could be obstructed or break. That's where the list of high standards from the DoJ and DHS come in, ensuring any smart weapon used by law enforcement would meet certain level of reliability.

Looking forward

The Obama administration is already in the process of getting manufacturers to produce guns with smart safety technology good enough to be used reliably by law enforcement officers. If these smart guns make it into the hands of law enforcement, they won't solve all gun-related issues in the U.S., but they will help cut down on dangerous incidents when guns get into the wrong hands.

Not only would this smart technology be beneficial for law enforcement, it could see an uptick in smart gun sales to private citizens. Having selective authorization on household guns could cut down on dangerous or fatal misfires when guns are handled by inexperienced people or children. As long as the technology is good enough.

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TopicsBarack Obama