Posted on 03/11/2014 8:24:11 PM PDT by Red Steel
The Oak Tree Gun Club in Santa Clarita, California, which was briefly associated with the Armatix smart gun, is now rapidly backpedaling away from the fledgling technology as fast as it can.
“Our facility does NOT carry the Armatix pistol, never has,” officials with Oak Tree told one media outlet on Feb 27. This was just a week after James Mitchell, the “extremely pro-gun” owner of the Oak Tree Gun Club, boasted to the Washington Post that his firearms shop was the only outlet in the country selling the Armatix iP1.
The Aramtix iP1, made by a German firm that has tried unsuccessfully to sell European police and militaries on guns that incorporate biometrics, commonly referred to as ‘smart gun’, that will only fire if the matched RFID technology companion wristwatch is within range of the gun itself. Without the watch, the gun will not shoot.
The iP1 was celebrated by US Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) when he unveiled his ‘Handgun Trigger Safety Act’ on Feb. 20.
During Markey’s press conference he mentioned the Armatix pistol by name, comparing it to James Bond’s fictional “Skyfall” Walther, although the real iP1 does not have the same biometrics.
This quickly led people to Oak Tree, who Armatix lists on its importation FFL as its premises, and an almost immediate backlash from the gun community.
Oak Tree’s Facebook page has been under a steady barrage of negative comments from those upset with the store’s apparent association with Armatix for weeks. These comments run from, “You have betrayed the shooting community on a national level. Hope you enjoy the 30 pieces of silver you got from Armatix,” to, “You have just lost me, my friends, and my family as a customer. How dare you support those who would take our rights from us?”
The National Shooting Sports Foundation conducted a national scientific poll of more than 1,200 Americans in October 2013 on smart guns. The results found that roughly three-quarters stated they would not buy a smart gun, would not trust the reliability of one, and that the government should not mandate such technology.
Apparently no one had shown the poll to Oak Tree before the story of them and the Armatix went viral. Once it did, however, the club quickly began putting room between itself and the $1,399 German smart gun.
The club has two FFLs under the name California Gun Girls. Armatix USA, who has a separate FFL, also lists its premise address at the same Coltraine Avenue location (xls) as the pair of licenses for the Oak Tree Gun Club/California Gun Girls.
Going back through the ATF’s online listings of FFLs, Armatix first appeared in May 2013, using Oak Tree’s address. The German company has a Type 8 license which is for an “Importer of Firearms Other Than Destructive Devices.” Set to expire in May 2016, the mailing address lists Armatix USA’s Beverly Hills office.
On March 3, Oak Tree posted the following response to the subject of Armatix’s FFL on its Facebook page then promptly went radio silent:
This is one of the main reasons no one wants so-called smart guns to be sold.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2002/12/23/new-jersey-smart-gun-legislation-enacted/
(besides the fact that it’s a dumb idea)
The Handgun Trigger Safety Act!? How about finger off the trigger until ready to shoot. Problem solved.
The situation with the gun store is far from clear. For an l=alternate point of view, see this story, which sure makes it sound like the gun shop might have been set up by some anti-gunners:
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showpost.php?p=13603871&postcount=93
Hat tip to earlyapex, who posted this in another thread.
Maybe Sean Penn would stop by to get one of these overpriced POS’s.
I’m open minded so I’ll tell you what...
Do a limited test where this is used exclusively by federal, state and local police agencies including the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, Secret Service and all other government agencies for at least five years.
Also, it must be used exclusively by all security details for all elected and governmental officials.
One more proviso...limit any politician, judge, etc., with a conceal carry to THIS FIREARM.
If they feel so strongly about it why would they object?
The first place I drove to by myself when I got my driver's license -- 36 years ago.
Looks like a crappy trigger anyways.
they also only come .22lr caliber. some may want a different load.
I believe those guns from Aliens were tricked-out German MG-42s.
Actually, it looks like the exporter told a bunch of lies. Either that, ot a whole bunch of people are all lying.
Comparing the photos you appear to be correct! Quite similar, I can see the MG-42 beneath all the added stuff.
It must be the barrel shroud and muzzle of an MG-42 mixed up with a bunch of plastic parts. A “real” MG-42 weighs about 25 pounds, and all that other crap would add a lot more weight. I doubt even those steroid-pumped space marines could whip those things around like they did if they were real guns. Bill Paxton was great in that movie, back when he played cowardly blowhards.
Eventually, there will be a “smart” gun technology that could, arguably, be a good choice for law enforcement. There are pros and cons, but I could see some agencies, and some officers opting for it.
But it will never be appropriate for private self defense.
The danger is that a potentially good tool for civilian police forces will be rammed down our throats for use by the general public.
I hope this puts the Gun Club into bankruptcy. Whether or not they foreswear ever dealing with these Aramtrix chains they do not deserve to survive commercially.
Don’t be so quick to judge. Try following the link in post # 5, then make up your mind.
It seems that given that law, the state should set up its own gun shop to sell only those “safe” guns thus forcing all the other shops to either sell the smart guns or go out of business. I would expect that the legal sale of guns in the state would go almost to zero, which is what the State wants. Gun smuggling into the state would really take off, though.
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