smart guns are expected to hit the market this year.
They include technology that keeps unauthorized users
from pulling the trigger. They could even reduce crimes
involving stolen guns while helping to protect police
as well. Newsy's meg healing spoke with the two
companies rolling out these products you've heard of
smartphones and even smart cars but what about smart
guns What we've developed is technology that will lock
and unlock your firearms internally and it does it
using actual personal authentication technol
Garrett Glaser is the co founder of load star works, a
company working to introduce us consumers to a handgun
that can only be fired by the authorized user. We're
all familiar with it fingerprint. That's good for so
circumstances because it's very fast. On the other hand
if your hand is wet, it's dirty, you're wearing glov
and it works so well. So we've got two more
technologies that can lock and unlock the gun as either
backups or priorities depending how you said it. These
additional options include a pi pad in the grip of the
gun and a chip that connects to an app on a smartphone.
Everybody has these about most people to uh and they
won't leave home without them. And these things have
the ability to communicate to your to your firearm
using a bluetooth connection that is encrypted Glaser
says technology like this could play a huge role in
reducing unintentional shooting well as help stop
the trafficking of stolen firearms. This firearm will
not fire unless it's authentica by you if I have my
load Star gun in my car and I go inside and someone
breaks into my car and steals my gun they can't use it
and lost our works isn't the only company explorin
authentication technology and firearms consumers need
choices. Tom Holland is the founder president of smart
guns, LLC, a Kansas based company also working to
produce a smart gun. I own a traditional handgun, okay
it's not smart technology, but but I feel comfortable
having that in my home because I don't have to worry
about, you know, little kids getting into it or
despondent teenager getting aft it or or who knows
what, you know what I mean. Holland's gun utilizes
radio frequency identification technology through a
ring the user wears once that I.D. Reader is on. When
it finds the specific idea that ring, then it basically
unlocks and then the gun is operational, you can
discharge if the reader cannot find the specific I.D.
That it has been programmed to look for, it never
releases. And so the gun is inoperable. Holland says
this gun is undergoing beta testing with the help of
sheriff's departments and could protect law enforcement
from having their weapons used against them. Just look
at the stories throughout years past of the sad and
tragic consequences when you see a prisoner, you know,
getting ahold of say a deputy's sidearm and they're
using us tomorrow. Her both Glazer and Holland say they
hope to make their guns available to consumers thi
year, but the National Shooting Sports Foundation says
it has some concerns specifically how reliable is th
technology. We're talking about having to use a firearm
to defend yourself in a life and death situation. It
has to work each and every time the blaze decide, th
is no room for point of failure and won't lead to
mandates. We've never been opposed to the technology.
We're opposed to mandates to technology, so we don't
want to have states coming out saying that this is the
only type of firearm that you must. Glazer and Holland
counter they do not favor mandates and are just trying
to offer consumers a new choice. But there are no
political agendas here. This is simply a this is
another tool in the toolkit, as it were for those
consumers who might like to have the additional option
of smart gun technology as it pertains to controlling
who can discharge that firearm Chicago.