Posted on 06/24/2019 8:36:36 AM PDT by Black_Rifle_Gunsmith
In keeping with the theme of talking about ridiculous gun control, let's take a look at what Joe Biden recently suggested on the campaign trail. At a fundraising event last Monday, Biden invoked the science-fiction technology of the James Bond universe, calling for guns in America to be made operable only by scanning the shooter's DNA and fingerprints.
"If I get elected president of the United States of America with your help, if that happens, guns, we have the capacity now in a James Bond-style to make sure no one can pull a trigger unless their DNA and fingerprint is on it". Biden continued, disregarding current technology and facts: "We have that capacity to do it now. You know it."
Except this technology is neither proven nor readily available. In fact, most smart gun prototypes have failed spectacularly and it's little surprise as to why. One model, the Armatix iP1, uses a radio-frequency-controlled sensor to activate or disable the gun. The shooter must wear an electronic wristwatch to operate the gun. But the moment the wristwatch goes out of distance or loses power, the gun becomes useless. Would you trust your life to an electronic wristwatch operating on a tiny battery? To illustrate how fallible the current technology is, one savvy shooter hacked the iP1, using magnets to make it shoot even when the control watch was more than 10 feet away. He even disabled the gun entirely when it should have been connected and able to fire.
There are inherent problems with making this technology reliable and easy to use under stress. When a gun needs to be used for self-defense or in a threat situation, adrenaline begins to rush. Cognitive function goes out the window and fine motor skills turn into, well, gross motor skills. The technology has to work immediately, 100% of the time, and without any user input -- lest the user face possible injury or death while he or she tries to make the trigger work.
Even the most well-built firearms, including service rifles and pistols issued to police and the U.S. Military, experience malfunctions and failures. The military and law enforcement anticipate and train for these situations: When a round jams, open the receiver and clear it. When a cartridge misfires, rack the slide and pull the trigger again. But when an electronic DNA or fingerprint scanner goes bad, there is no quick "field repair" that can be made. That shooter is out of the fight. That shooter could be you, in your living room, at 3:00 A.M.
Beyond mere logistics and technological issues, requiring every gun to have a DNA or fingerprint scanner poses serious issues for the Second Amendment and Americans' rights to have access to readily-available guns, bought or built. Biden claims that gun manufacturers are against the technology, and he's right on this point. Except manufacturers are likely opposed because of sheer cost and manufacturing concerns. Armatix, for example, charges around $1,800 for a basic "smart" handgun with no other features.
Further, many Americans have gotten into the hobby of building their own guns at home. The tactical market has exploded with the AR-15 taking the top spot as one of the most popular firearm models sold and built in the country. And over the last few years, enthusiasts and entrepreneurs have started using receiver blanks (usually called 80% lowers or 80% frames) to build unregistered, un-serialized guns for personal use (the ATF has long held this is legal to do). Requiring all guns sold or made to have DNA and fingerprint scanners would greatly curtail this now widely-exercised right and it would also likely raze the U.S. firearms manufacturing industry to ashes for some years to come.
Nonetheless, companies and start-ups are pursuing smart gun technology. Many also think Biden has a good chance of securing the Democratic nomination for 2020, setting up what's likely to be a heated gun control debate. Do you think Biden would ever have a chance of passing legislation as extreme and industry-changing as this? I would hope the rest of our legislators would realize how destructive and ineffective such a bill might be.
Let’s test that concept on one hundred percent of his security detail personnel for the next five years as a viability study.
Bet his shotgun isn’t registered.
Only tyrants worry about other people targeting them.
A leader favored by the populace would not.
And that’s what Biden and the other frozen faced Bolsheviks really care about: the serfs coming after THEM.
They don’t give a damn about some unfortunates caught in a massacre by a nut. They have armed security around themselves so no reason to ever worry about that.
their DNA
Okay, let’s start with your female Secret Service agents.
“Biden. Joke Biden.”
Why don’t we just use phasers like on star trek!
What the hell is he talking about?
Let M build each and every one of them then.
I got a fingerprint thingy on my I phone. It actually works (35% of the time)
Perhaps if this technology is around and ‘so special’....we could use the same idea for voting registration.
Oh, Joe. That “James Bond style” remark makes you sound rather dated. The JB franchise continues, but most people over 50 first think of Sean Connery as James Bond, then everybody else. Connery made those movies over fifty years ago.
Also, to cite a movie fantasy as something to aspire to may lead some to think you don’t take this as a serious topic. Well, at least you didn’t (yet) say:
“Something like George Jetson would have carried in the glove compartment of his Flying Car.”
The whole thing is insane, but here we all know that.
So if some murdering criminal breaks in, the family can’t protect themselves, if the person whose fingerprints unlock the gun, isn’t home at that time.
Let’s test that concept on one hundred percent of his security detail personnel for the next five years as a viability study.
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yes
btt
What the hell is he talking about?
I’ve asked that about Biden for way over 20 years.
I would rather see him address mental illness issues among youth (and adults), the border crisis the Dems are totally neglecting, illegal heroin and fentenal on our streets, the failed public school system
Anyone who has used any form of fingerprint ID, whether it’s the supposedly advanced “touch ID” on an iPhone, a scan to enter work or other facility, or something else, knows that it’s not uncommon to have to repeat the scan. That’s in addition to the extra time any form of locking mechanism inherently requires. When fractions of a second count, it’s literally the difference between life and death. But the Democrats like it when gun owners die.
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