Firearm Enthusiasts Are Warming Up to Smart Guns

Non-gun owners were predictably less interested in and less likely to use smart guns than their gun-toting fellows, but the results weren’t necessarily black and white either. Nearly half (40%) of non-gun owners said they would feel comfortable firing a smart gun while 46% said they support further development of the technology

For context, smart guns here are characterized as firearms that require a fingerprint or passcode to fire. This broad definition generally gets the message across, though it excludes a whole cornucopia of other smart guns designs that utilize paired watches, rings, bracelets, or even phone apps as well.

Smart guns have theoretically existed in some form or another for nearly two decades, but have only recently shown signs of making their way to market for everyday gun owners. Proponents of the technology argue these additional verification systems could cut down on the number of unintentional suicides resulting from children getting their hands on their parents’ guns and potentially prevent other adults from taking or stealing a weapon and using it to harm themselves or others. To that end, smart guns have actually managed to gain support from prominent pro-gun control groups like Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety.

You Might Like

“Authorized-use technology, as well as basic safety features like loaded chamber indicators, magazine safety disconnects, and other features designed to prevent a child from operating the gun, should be incorporated into new models of semiautomatic handguns to help prevent firearms from being unintentionally fired,” Everytown for Gun Safety said in a previous statement. “​​If widely implemented, it [smart guns] would be a game-changer for keeping guns out of the hands of children and criminals.”

Like it or not, smart guns are on pace to hit some store shelves later this year. Both LodeStar and the unfortunately named SmartGunz LLC plan to release commercially available handguns later this year with the former reportedly gearing its product towards “first-time buyers.”

Largely absent from the smart gun conversation are legacy U.S. firearm heavyweights like Remington and ​​Smith & Wesson which faced mass boycotts and the NRA’s wrath the last time they went near the damn things. That absence could potentially change though if the smaller manufacturers see commercial success and if the acceptability of the tech remains relatively high.

Smart guns seem to have gained some support, but the same can’t be said of more controversial 3D printed guns. The Morning Consult polling found relatively tepid support for that tech across the board, with 44% and 47% of Republicans and Democrats respectively saying they had no interest in the tech at all. For now, at least, the 3D-printed gun craze seems limited to the furthest reaches of anarcho-libertarian backwaters.

You Might Like