The Answer on Guns Will Be Technology

The NRA’s Wayne LaPierre broke his silence today a week after the Sandy Hook massacre of 6 adults and 20 kids and he decided to say all kinds of things.

Now of course, he is completely unbiased, LOL. But seriously, we already know that he would never admit that availability to guns is ever the problem, there is no amount of evidence that would ever change the gun people’s minds so that debate is pointless.  LaPierre is not paid to be thoughtful or to ever allow any kind of compromise to enter his agenda. The NRA’s stance is reminiscent of the bullish housing surveys and forecasts coming from the National Association of Realtors circa 2006-2007.

So don’t expect any solutions coming from that quarter. And before you leave a comment below, no I don’t want to take away your guns, so relax. I’m writing today about a way that might make everyone happy and a bit more safe.

After giving the issue a lot of thought, I do believe that technology, in the form of biometrics, will be the solution. The answer to major problems throughout human history has always been technology, why would this be any different?

One of the few complaints I heard from people who saw the new James Bond film, Skyfall, was that there weren’t any cool gadgets. What if the one cool gadget in the film – a pistol that would only fire in Bond’s hand – turns out to be the one thing that could’ve stopped the CT killer along with so many of the other maniacs who get their hands on the weapons of others?

Let’s say this ridiculous doomsday prepper moron of a mother Nancy Lanza was collecting guns lawfully, as is her right under the Constitution’s 2nd amendment. Fine, she can do whatever she wants with her stupid guns – sleep with them, lick the tip of them, walk around the house talking to them, I don’t give a shit. But what if those legal guns were configured in such a way so that they needed a biometric safety release in order to fire?  The same way they can equip a car’s ignition with a breathalyzer? What if Nancy the “gun enthusiast” only had guns that were able to be fired by her alone?

Again, this doesn’t prevent every tragedy, but it does keep the guns in the hands of their rightful owners. It keeps them from hitting the streets when stolen and would absolutely have kept Adam Lanza from walking into a goddamn school full of kids armed to the teeth, ready to murder.

I don’t expect that we’ll be getting rid of guns in this country any time soon and I don’t have the right or the moral authority to claim that anyone else shouldn’t be able to protect their family. But wouldn’t a biometric-equipped gun give them the same chance of doing so with less risk to the community?

Now I understand that the technology isn’t there yet to do this – but isn’t that what American ingenuity is about? Pursuing new solutions to old problems?

Read Also:

Could smart gun technology make us safer? (Computer World)