Posted on 05/09/2017 1:55:38 PM PDT by PROCON
A New York Democrat has introduced a measure to the U.S. House which would require the sale of handguns with authorized user technology.
U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney reintroduced The Handgun Trigger Safety Act last week which pushes “smart guns” by ordering within five years that all newly manufactured handguns include technology enabling only authorized users to fire the pistol. Existing handguns would have to be retrofitted within 10 years. The lawmaker argues a mandate to only sell guns so enabled with lock-out features would save lives.
“How many more kids have to die? How many more police officers have to be killed with their own weapon before we come to our senses?” said Maloney. “We wouldn’t drive in cars or use baby cribs that didn’t adopt the latest safety technology, and we shouldn’t use guns that don’t take advantage of this technology either.”
The bill, filed as H.R. 2380, would authorize grants to develop the technology and mandate that, within five years of adoption, all new handguns made in the country would be personalized, and that within 10 years all pistols offered for sale would have to be retrofitted with the technology. Manufacturers would be able to defray the cost of retrofitting by applying for grants from the Department of Justice.
Maloney, in a statement through her office, contends that smart guns have been available to consumers for years even though gun shops have declined to stock the few commercial offerings over a backlash from gun rights advocates.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade organization for the gun industry, told Guns.com on Tuesday it has never opposed the research and development of “authorized user recognition” technology being applied to a firearm. Rather, the group opposes “one size fits all” legislative mandates such as Maloney’s bill and others introduced in the past.
“We believe — as do the technology firms trying to develop this technology — that the free market should be allowed to function. Consumers should be allowed to purchase the products that meet their needs and manufacturers will respond to meet those needs,” said Larry Keane, senior vice president of government and public affairs for the NSSF, in an email.
“Even if the technology existed — and it does not yet — this bill absurdly mandates that firearms sold decades ago be retrofitted,” continued Keane. “It is like asking Ford to retrofit a Model T with ABS brakes. It demonstrates this bill is not serious and is just an exercise in political grandstanding.”
The bill has been double referred to the Republican-controlled House Judiciary and Energy and Commerce committees while U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, is set to introduce a companion bill in the Senate. Markey debuted a similar bill in 2014 while Maloney introduced one in 2015, neither of which left committee.
With the GOP in firm control of Capitol Hill and President Trump, who promised members of the National Rifle Association last month he would remain firm on gun rights while in the White House, the likelihood of a smart gun mandate passing into law is slim.
This Ping List is for all things pertaining to the 2nd Amendment.
FReepmail me if you want to be added to or deleted from the list.
“This liberal moron doesn’t understand..... Anything.
Like smart phones and smart cars, they can be remotely controlled.
Idiot looser. Bloomberg.
Democrats are domestic enemies and need to be eradicated.
Well, I guess that just have to hang on to my stupid ones.
The left is entertaining, I’ll give them that much!!
LOL, me too.
No.
Your move.
Bitch.
Gun shops have not stocked them because there is no demand for them because they are unreliable.
>>Well, I guess that just have to hang on to my stupid ones.<<
Same for my car. Any car that can be tracked, unlocked and turned on for convenience can be tracked, unlocked and turned on (or off) for nefarious purposes. The most nefarious being government.
I oppose spending even one penny on this idiocy.
“This liberal moron doesn’t understand that this anti-2nd Amendment crap is exactly why democrats continue to lose Congressional seats. “
She only cares that she keeps HER seat.
Yeah, but not in her district. She knows this won’t go anywhere, but the libtards back home will cheer her “courage” for “standing up to the gun lobby”.
I have no problem with safe guns ONLY if they are 100% mandatory for all federal law enforcement and military FIRST with a ten (10) year trial period.
Ny continues to be a tumor on America.
#infringemenot
“It is like asking Ford to retrofit a Model T with ABS brakes.”
Excellent analogy. It would literally be impossible to retrofit hundreds of millions of firearms in thousands of models. And if you don’t, or more likely can’t, retrofit your firearm what happens to it when you die? I can tell you what happens, your heirs will be required to turn them in to the government for destruction. But of course that won’t be enough. They will get around to requiring long guns to have smart technology.
You can guarantee that the government will require that those “smart guns” will have a remote deactivation circuit built in. And the entire population will be effectively disarmed in one generation.
Until you die. Then your heirs will be required to turn them in.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.