A Look at Smart Gun Technology

An anonymous reader writes "Engadget takes a look at smart gun technology currently available and what the future might hold. From the article: 'While the idea of a gun that couldn't be turned on its owner seems like an obvious win for everyone involved, there are a number of problems with the concept. Chief among those worries: the safety mechanism will fail when it's needed most. If you're relying on a weapon for defense, the last thing you want is another avenue for failure. Electronics aren't perfect. Sometimes cameras can't autofocus. Cable boxes freeze up when browsing the channel guide. The equivalent, seemingly small glitch in a smart gun could be the difference between life and death.'"

Comments

Re:a sign of lack of seriousness

[Tom]

So, if you were to come across data that says otherwise, you'd be intellectually honest enough to change your mind?

Certainly.

From your statistics, there's about 1200 accidental deaths caused by firearms in the US.
The self-defense instances are more tricky. Most of the pro-gun sites seem to be using numbers from the 90s, when crime was considerably higher than today. And let's also not forget that the use of a firearm in self-defense does not automatically mean a crime was prevented that would have otherwise happened, because people without guns also prevent crimes. It is even more difficult to find out how many crimes were prevented, but that's the number that matters.

IMHO the best approach to get away from speculations is to look at other countries. Preferably western countries similar to the US. Unsurprisingly, the USA is not dramatically different from european countries when it comes to crime rate, income and other key factors.

I'm too lazy to look for 20 sources, this here has a sortable list which the other 4 I looked up didn't: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

For gun deaths, both intentional and accidental, the US does not compare favourable to comparable nations, but resembles countries like Uruguay, South Africa and Venezuela.

Unless you live under the delusion that all of Europe lives in slavery, the causal link between freedom, security, self-defense against crime, etc. and gun ownership is doubtful. Many countries manage to have the same or lower crime rates without paying the same price.

That said, I admit I underestimated the number of actual self-defense instances.