Feinstein Assault Weapons Ban No Longer Needed Thanks to iGun

Impact

In Skyfall, James Bond was provided with a high-tech automatic gun biometrically customized for Agent 007 — so the wrong hands couldn’t fire it in case it got lost or stolen.

And now, according to the New York Times, this technology is also available in real life thanks to products such as iGun, a "personalized" weapon based on the registered owners' biometrics. 

Take that Senator Feinstein. It looks like we won't need your assault weapons ban after all.   

According to the Times, biometrics and grip pattern detection "can sense the registered owner of a gun and allow only that person to fire it." They cite the iGun — made by Mossberg Group — which cannot be fired "unless its owner is wearing a ring with a chip that activates the gun."

However, according to Robert J. Spitzer, a professor of political science at SUNY Cortland cited by the Times, the idea, while good, is not likely to get much traction among the powerful gun lobby. 

"The gun industry has no interest in making smart-guns. There is no incentive for them," said Spitzer.

This may come as no surprise from a group used to defy all sense and logic, but it's important to note that their reluctance is not because of a lack of technology. According to Spitzer, this technology is available today, as we speak. The reason why the gun lobby is not too excited about the idea is reportedly because many guns are not sold in shops but on the secondary market — where background checks are not asked nor given, let alone some sort of biometric registration.     

"Many guns are bought and sold on the secondary market without background checks, and that kind of sale would be inhibited with fingerprinting-safety technologies in guns,” Spitzer said.