{"id":94202,"date":"2023-07-07T16:12:15","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T21:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=94202"},"modified":"2023-07-07T16:19:17","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T21:19:17","slug":"94202","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=94202","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

No integral light or even the ability<\/em> to mount a light
\nNo luminous sights or ability to mount optics (and the sights are not<\/strong><\/em> adjustable!)
\nNot FULLY ambidextrous as you have to order either a left, or right handed version for the fingerprint reader. Lose the ability to use that hand and what you’ve got left is a image reader that you hope will read your face when it matters.
\nNo independent tests for failure modes
\nIn other words: Not ready in any<\/strong> respect for self defense use.<\/em><\/p>\n

BLUF
\n\u201cIf even one or two cases get out where it\u2019s found that someone was unable to protect themselves because the gun didn\u2019t recognize them\u2026 I think that\u2019s going to kill the movement for a long time,\u201d Wolf said.<\/p>\n

Metro company offers first commercially available \u2018smart guns\u2019<\/a>
\nKai Kloepfer is the CEO of the Broomfield-based company Biofire. He said making a gun like this was impossible until very recently.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At first glance, the Biofire Smart Gun is different from other firearms. The large handgun looks part Halo, part Cyberpunk in design.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an appropriate look since the gun is made with new technology ripped straight from science fiction. It\u2019s unlocked biometrically, meaning it can only be activated with an authorized user\u2019s fingerprint or face. That, in turn, means only authorized users can shoot it.<\/p>\n

Kai Kloepfer is the CEO of the Broomfield-based company Biofire. He said making a gun like this was impossible until very recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the technology we\u2019re using did not exist two years ago, in most cases,\u201d Kloepfer said.<\/p>\n

Kloepfer began thinking about the smart gun in high school. He grew up in Colorado and remembers the 2012 Aurora theater mass shooting, where 12 were killed. He brought an early design to an international science fair and won first place. More than a decade later his plastic prototype has evolved into a fully functional handgun.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten a chance to be shooting it, handling it. Even got to take one home for a little bit. It\u2019s just been really cool to see something that I only dreamed of like 11 years ago,\u201d Kloepfer said.<\/p>\n

Experts say putting a computer into a gun is a remarkable feat\u2014a gun\u2019s explosive force once made it unthinkable. But beyond the computer, the gun is unremarkable in its function. Biofire\u2019s smart gun is a semiautomatic 9mm handgun, meaning a user can pull the trigger, a round goes downrange, and a new round is fed into the chamber. It functions exactly like any other handgun of its class and caliber\u2014and that\u2019s by design.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Biofire Smart Gun is the first commercially available smart gun in the United States. Bryan Rogers, a lead designer for the weapon, leaned into a futuristic design as an expression of its futuristic technology. (Dylan Simard\/KUNC)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It takes an expert like Bryan Rogers, the lead designer at Biofire, to bring the gun to commercial production. He said the secret to making a reliable smart gun is to enable more than one way to unlock it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt uses both fingerprint and facial recognition to recognize you as the owner,\u201d Rogers said.\u201d It\u2019s either\/or\u2014whichever one it gets first.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The gun uses a portable dock with a small screen attached to both charge the gun and edit its user permissions. The battery life is considerable\u2014with a full charge, it will be ready to shoot as many as 6 months later.
\n[wow. I mean, I have guns that will be ready to shoot as many as A HUNDRED YEARS later, simply by keeping them loaded]<\/em><\/p>\n

So, a gun that can only be shot by its designated owner is now available for purchase\u2014but does that mean it\u2019s any safer than other guns? Eileen McCarron, president of the gun violence prevention organization Colorado Ceasefire, said this firearm is an improvement\u2014but there are still no safe guns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe safest thing you can do for your family is to not have a gun,\u201d McCarron said.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s evidence that the presence of guns makes a home more dangerous. Having a gun in the home leads to a fourfold increase in the risk of suicide, according to a study from Stanford University.<\/p>\n

But this research didn\u2019t look at smart guns, and it will likely be years before there is enough data to know if a smart gun is a safer alternative to a traditional gun.<\/p>\n

McCarron remains concerned about the mental states of those in possession of smart guns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still the issue of suicide for the person who is identifiable by the machine,\u201d McCarron said of smart guns\u2019 user-recognition technology.<\/p>\n

The firearms industry has been closely watching the development of smart guns. Mark Oliva, a spokesperson for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said the new technology does have some people concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never been opposed to authorized user technology, or smart guns. What we oppose are mandates on that technology,\u201d Oliva said.<\/p>\n

Some Second Amendment advocates are afraid this technology might one day be mandatory for all guns. There\u2019s no evidence of that yet, though it has been a focus within some state legislatures. New Jersey passed a law requiring stores to carry smart guns once they become available, but Biofire CEO Kai Kloepfer has said he wouldn\u2019t submit the gun for the state\u2019s review \u2013 specifically to avoid triggering the law.<\/p>\n

Overall, the stakes are high for this smart gun from Biofire\u2014and for all smart guns to come. Steve Wolf, a firearms expert in Boulder, is a plaintiff\u2019s expert witness in a case against Alec Baldwin, after the actor was involved in an accidental firearm-involved death on the set of the film Rust. Wolf believes Biofire is taking a risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf even one or two cases get out where it\u2019s found that someone was unable to protect themselves because the gun didn\u2019t recognize them\u2026 I think that\u2019s going to kill the movement for a long time,\u201d Wolf said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Biofire smart gun doesn\u2019t just prevent unauthorized users inside of the home from using the gun\u2014it also prevents use by strangers. Hundreds of thousands of guns are stolen each year in the United States, and many are used in violent crimes. Wolf said the smart gun might put a dent in that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would diminish the ability of criminals to use the gun,\u201d Wolf said.<\/p>\n

For his part, Wolf hopes Biofire succeeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to see gun safety improved,\u201d Wolf said. \u201cAnd if this is a step that gets us closer to that, more power to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biofire isn\u2019t having any trouble selling out right now, even though the first guns won\u2019t ship until the end of the year. But whether the technology is here to stay is still anyone\u2019s guess. Firearms history is littered with technology that never caught on\u2014but that history is also filled with innovations that changed the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No integral light or even the ability to mount a light No luminous sights or ability to mount optics (and the sights are not adjustable!) Not FULLY ambidextrous as you have to order either a left, or right handed version for the fingerprint reader. Lose the ability to use that hand and what you’ve got … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gun-schtuff","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94202"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94208,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94202\/revisions\/94208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}