New 'Safe Gun' Tech

Here you will find an article about the new gun law in New Jersey.  I really applaud the idea of keeping guns in the hands of ordinary citizens so they can defend themselves while attempting to prevent criminal abuse of firearms.  I do have a couple of problems with this idea.

It wasn't very many years ago that BMW designed a car that opened and started with a fingerprint ID.  Let's imagine what would happen someone was carjacked with such a vehicle.  "The two youths kept the owner with them for quite some time so they could continue their drive.  At least until they figured out that they really only needed his thumb."

Fortunately BMW never took this feature to market.  Instead they went to electronic key fobs.  Nifty for the extra features that it brings to the car, but doesn't really increase the security of the vehicle.

The second problem with this law is it's exemption for police officers.  Police officers' guns get stolen too.  With every other gun in the state locked down and more prone to failure, why wouldn't the criminal walk up behind an officer, smack him to the ground with a pipe, and take his perfectly function, 100% mechanical gun?  If it's good enough for your citizens why isn't it good enough for your police?  I'll tell you why, they only way to get the law enforcement community on board for this kind of law is to offer them an exemption.  I don't really blame them.  Every gun is already a complicated device that is built to contain a rapidly expanding gas cloud at 23,000 psi or more to propel a projectile in a very specific direction.  Does this sound like a good environment to introduce electronics and radio signals into?  I know I don't really want it on mine.

The system put together by this company faces a similar problem.  It also faces the problem of radio signal interference.  Sitting here in my bathrobe I can think of two ways to steal this gun and use it for badness.  I'm sure I could think of more with a little more coffee.  I can also envision a small jammer unit that would prevent these guns from working when they are close to me.  A handy device to have, if I wanted to rob an otherwise armed citizen.

Keeping guns away from criminals is a great goal, but I haven't seen any way of actually doing it yet.