Smart guns

[BugI02]

"Smart guns" are for people with absolutely no critical thinking skills. Put not your faith in electronic devices. As a former avionics tech I know precisely how "reliable" this junk will be when mass produced. At least on an aircraft you have multiple backups for everything. I believe the only reason that smart gun technology is so popular with liberals is simply because it will lead directly to the introduction of technology desired by law enforcement to switch your gun off whenever they choose. You KNOW that's where this is going.

Any legislation that requires the adoption of this (let's face it...GPS tracking technology) may very well require the use of something like the polymer bullet technology reviewed in this month's American Rifleman (Polycase) where the case can only be fired once and the bullet won't go through body armor.

Because bad guys never wear body armor and only a criminal would want bullets that can go through a wall...besides, no lead so it's just great for the environment.

Never mind that the bullet design would probably be of limited use in hunting because the description of the damage done to flesh sounds like it would destroy the meat when fired from a high velocity weapon. I believe they said that the liquid around the bullet was accelerated to 5000fps as it left the area...

Why would they require it? Because controllers got to control and if they want to destroy an industry and a product they need to limit the means of production and destroy the current producers. Then when there's only one left they can just say it's not profitable and close the last door. Controlling access to ammunition has always been plan B for the gun grabbers. And those cases can't be reloaded...guns controlled, game over.

+1. A spot-on analysis hitting on the real agenda behind this

 

[BugI02]

I'm a little surprised that any INGO member drives a car with drive-by-wire throttle, brakes or steering.

Smart gun technology isn't there yet, but it will be someday.

There are a number of transport category aircraft out there today with fully digital flight, engine, pressurization and brake controls...and those systems are quite mature, having been around for a few decades now.

Driving the transition to fully automated aircraft systems is a desire to increase reliability and reduce weight - neither of which "smart guns" offer. Additionally, those systems typically have at least one backup, as redundancy is required for certification - another feature "smart guns" lack.

When the Secret Service, ATF, FBI, or US military start issuing "smart guns" on a mass scale, we'll know concerns have largely been addressed. Until then...

The man knows wherefrom he speaks, Hough. Take the recent Asiana crash in SFO. While setting parameters for the approach to land of a heavily computerized a/c, pilot inadvertently disengages auto-throttles. Sophisticated autopilot gamely tries to do what it has been told to do right up until it runs out of inertia just short of a normal landing. There was an interesting article in Aviation Week the better part of ten years ago about " Pilot/Autopilot mode confusion" that you might enjoy reading. I'll try to look for it and link to it if its archived online. Complexity is often the enemy of reliability. You introduce a host of new failure modes.

 

[BugI02]

It looks like its the 30 Jan 1995 issue, but you have to be a paid subscriber to access. My employer no longer underwrites this for me.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

I've always been a giant technologist; since the age of two I've been taking things apart and figuring out how they worked. An OCD kid might keep all the toys separated, the cars in one box, games in another box, etc. I had a box of cars, then a box of the wheels for the cars. I'd assemble the cars when I wanted to play with them.

In all the time I've been learning about technologies, I've been learning about their limitations and failure modes. Sometimes there are reasons that analog signals are superior to digital. Sometimes you just want a volume knob you can grab and twist, not a menu to mouse through. Sometimes you don't want electronics at all, or wireless raises issues.

For some items, I require that they operate flawlessly at my command, with no negotiation, no prospect of them being distracted by other signals, and without microsoft automatically downloading buggy updates to it. I don't grant anyone the authority to disable my gun, and I sure don't want it popping off in the holster every time someone turns on the microwave. And they don't get to track me. I refuse to buy a safe with an electronic lock. It may be a little faster when it works, but it becomes a lot slower if it's been EMPed.

 

[Drail]

NOW this discussion is getting interesting...........

 

[88E30M50]

I'd rather see the money spent trying to make smarter gun owners. We can start by restoring gun safety training at all grade levels. We need to stop wasting money on dead end ideas like this and instead invest it in public safety messages during prime time teaching or reminding folks of the 4 rules. Every time you try to save people by creating a smart device, you only end up with dumber people. Look at what all of the smart tech in cars has done to driver skill. Invest in teaching those that are in need instead of trying to save them from their own stupidity. Stupid will always win if you go the route of dumb people with smart devices.

 

[CPT Nervous]

I'd rather see the money spent trying to make smarter gun owners. We can start by restoring gun safety training at all grade levels. We need to stop wasting money on dead end ideas like this and instead invest it in public safety messages during prime time teaching or reminding folks of the 4 rules. Every time you try to save people by creating a smart device, you only end up with dumber people. Look at what all of the smart tech in cars has done to driver skill. Invest in teaching those that are in need instead of trying to save them from their own stupidity. Stupid will always win if you go the route of dumb people with smart devices.

Wow... Tone down the logic there for a minute. This plan solves the problem, but it DOES NOT further their agenda. Their agenda has no room for your logic.

 

[Thor]

I'd rather see the money spent making smarter citizens instead of people willing to give up their liberties to misguided controllers. But that's not in the cards at this moment.

Besides...that wouldn't require any money from the feds...in fact that would be counterproductive.

 

[Treetoppilot]

Batteries not included

 

[BugI02]

I've always been a giant technologist; since the age of two I've been taking things apart and figuring out how they worked. An OCD kid might keep all the toys separated, the cars in one box, games in another box, etc. I had a box of cars, then a box of the wheels for the cars. I'd assemble the cars when I wanted to play with them.

In all the time I've been learning about technologies, I've been learning about their limitations and failure modes. Sometimes there are reasons that analog signals are superior to digital. Sometimes you just want a volume knob you can grab and twist, not a menu to mouse through. Sometimes you don't want electronics at all, or wireless raises issues.

For some items, I require that they operate flawlessly at my command, with no negotiation, no prospect of them being distracted by other signals, and without microsoft automatically downloading buggy updates to it. I don't grant anyone the authority to disable my gun, and I sure don't want it popping off in the holster every time someone turns on the microwave. And they don't get to track me. I refuse to buy a safe with an electronic lock. It may be a little faster when it works, but it becomes a lot slower if it's been EMPed.

This is an area of interest to me but outside my expertise. I understand the damaging potential of EMP to be related to the current induced by the electric field, which is proportional to the length of conductor that it operates upon. So small solid state devices that work by field interactions such as inductance would be compromised and devices attached to long conductors able to carry the current would be subjected to high amperage/overvoltage. The actuator mechanism for a safes elock would be insulated in a very good Faraday cage, the steel box of the safe itself, and the elock's connection to that mechanism would seem to be of insufficient guage and length to carry much EMF. Are we sure EMP would do much more than perhaps compromise the keypad?