Posted on 05/20/2013 9:40:41 AM PDT by neverdem
The Hill has a story today that leaves one wondering if, when it comes to gun control, there is any line too ridiculous for progressives to cross:
A House Democrat inspired by the last James Bond movie has offered legislation to produce handguns with “personalization technology.”
The idea is to produce guns that can only be used by the gun’s owners. Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) cited the latest James Bond movie, “Skyfall,” as inspiration for the bill.
“In the most recent James Bond film, Bond escapes death when his handgun, which is equipped with technology that recognizes him as its owner, becomes inoperable when it gets into the wrong hands,” Tierney’s office said in a statement introducing the bill. “This technology, however, isn’t just for the movies — it’s a reality.”
Sure, one can already buy guns with this technology — although it’s pretty unreliable. It’s certainly a good idea for a gun safe. If Americans wish to take advantage of it, then good for them. Naturally, though, Tierney doesn’t have that in mind:
Under his bill, guns made in the United States would have to be built with this technology two years after the bill becomes law. Older guns being sold by a business or individual would have to be retrofitted with this technology after three years.
And who will pay for this? The taxpayer, naturally.
The bill says the cost of retrofitting these older guns would be paid out of the Department of Justice’s Asset Forfeiture Fund, where confiscated assets from criminal investigations are placed.
In the Boston Globe, John Rosenthal of Stop Handgun Violence, claimed that, with this technology, “We could reduce the majority of gun deaths in this country.”
This is spectacularly dishonest. According to the anti-gun Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 606 people were accidentally killed by firearms in 2010. Of course, not all of these people were killed with handguns and many of them were killed when the guns were being held by their primary owners. Moreover, the law would do nothing about the vast majority of those 300 million-plus guns that are already privately owned. But let’s presume for the sake of argument that such a system would prevent some handgun accidents, especially children accidentally shooting themselves or others. Had such a system been around in 2010, we might say that it would have saved between 1 and 606 lives.
And that’s about it. In 2010, 19,392 people killed themselves with firearms. If you’re going to take your own life, that the gun you use only works in your hands is wholly irrelevant.
Meanwhile, 11,078 people were murdered with firearms in 2010. Here it is possible that, by limiting the sharing and theft of guns, a few deaths could be shaved off this number. Still, America would remain a country with 300 million–plus grandfathered weapons. If you’re going to murder somebody with a gun, you’re probably not going to be following the rules that apply to only a few of them.
“We could reduce the majority of gun deaths in this country”? Give me a break, John.
I order to address a small problem — a real and serious and horrible problem, but a small one nonetheless — Tierney wants make sweeping changes to the way in which Americans use firearms, overcomplicating access to what is a primary self-defense weapon for milllions of Americans. The suggestion here is that the law require — require – American citizens to sample distinguishing information — fingerprint, handprint, or what you will — and then have this information tied to any handgun they own. This would be an unprecedented and worrying step. Technology is unreliable and it is quite easily hacked, and I would certainly not want to be in a position in which I had to convince a jury that a murder committed with a gun that could ostensibly only be fired by me was not in fact fired by me. There, we would be getting into Minority Report territory. Worth it? I think not.
There is no way that any LEO confiscating agency is going to support paying for the cost of retrofits of these older weapons. This is childish lunacy. LEO orgs would not have enough money from their confiscations to do it, nor would they want to forgo their greedy opportunity to buy all that RAMBO shit they seem to be so fond of.
Wouldn’t a criminally minded individual be able to defeat this technology...by taking it off the gun? If it can be a ‘retrofit’, it can’t be that hard to take off.
This would only hurt legal owners.
“Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) cited the latest James Bond movie, “Skyfall,” as inspiration for the bill.”
As one of the least relevant Masshole moonbats who comprise the embarrassing excuse of a “congressional delegation”, this sounds about right.
By the time he'd get everything retrofitted my handy dandy pocket disintegrator ray would have taken out half of Massachusetts and all of Rhode Island, so don't P me Off Tierney!
Representative Tyranny (Dumbass - MA) obviously has never cared for and maintained a handgun in his life. I would think that it would pretty easy to defeat the new technology by removing it and replacing a part or two on the weapon. The only thing a law like this would do is increase the cost of weapons.
A much simpler way to make a gun "snatch-resistant" would be to wear a lanyard so that if someone else takes your gun, it would pull a pin out of the gun and make it non-functional.
Or better still, leave guns alone as they are. Rust and politicians.
He only used "Skyfall" because he had misplaced his copy of "The Little Mermaid".
Yeah, but this is just "a good first step", I imagine.
After they discover that "loophole", they'll mandate portable FMRI machines in lieu of the RFID ring/bracelet that activates the current generation, so the gun can tell you're not attempting to commit murder or suicide.
It will of course need to have GPS as well as a full-time internet connection, so it can consult the laws of the state you're in to see if the shooting is righteous. For example, in your state, maybe guns are only allowed for in-home defense. The internet connection downloads this information to the gun, the GPS pinpoints your location, then tax records compiled by some drone are consulted to see if you're the legal owner of the home, if you have an order of protection against you, if your taxes are current, etc., and then enables the gun to fire. Since you've been dead at this point for like four minutes and two complete reboots of GunWindows, it will also be equipped with the capability to summon first responders / report fillers.
Regarding the relationship of guns and suicide ARE THERE NO BRIDGES IN AMERICA?
Guns with electronic locks grafted onto them. What could go wrong?
Excuse me Mr. Burglar! Wait right there while I reboot my Smith & Wesson!
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.