RTFPA - the unlocking of the cartridge is done via a direct interface with the cartridge in the chamber, so this shouldn't be an issue.
Still, compared to other "smart gun" approaches, this only seems to add two things: a more "tamper-proof" smart gun that's harder to crack via mechanical modification, and the ability to deny others the use of your cartridges. Neither seems worth the increase in cost and loss of reliability.
The one case I can see where this would be useful would be to equip prison guards, to render both their guns and ammunition useless if taken from the original owner; even with an uncrackable "smart gun", loose conventional ammunition could still be improvised into a weapon by inmates. The law enforcement folks I know are very concerned about reliability, and would take some convincing - but if the alternative is going into the population with just a nightstick, as prison guards do now, there might be some takers.
Okay, the only other place this would be useful would be a society as rigidly controlled and regimented as we'd like our prisons to be, where criminals have no other source of weapons. This might be where the patent applicant would like to live, but not me.
Slashdot Mirror
RTFPA - the unlocking of the cartridge is done via a direct interface with the cartridge in the chamber, so this shouldn't be an issue.
Still, compared to other "smart gun" approaches, this only seems to add two things: a more "tamper-proof" smart gun that's harder to crack via mechanical modification, and the ability to deny others the use of your cartridges. Neither seems worth the increase in cost and loss of reliability.
The one case I can see where this would be useful would be to equip prison guards, to render both their guns and ammunition useless if taken from the original owner; even with an uncrackable "smart gun", loose conventional ammunition could still be improvised into a weapon by inmates. The law enforcement folks I know are very concerned about reliability, and would take some convincing - but if the alternative is going into the population with just a nightstick, as prison guards do now, there might be some takers.
Okay, the only other place this would be useful would be a society as rigidly controlled and regimented as we'd like our prisons to be, where criminals have no other source of weapons. This might be where the patent applicant would like to live, but not me.