NRA Nixes Smart Gun Technology

Every week there is a story about some child accidentally killing another child with a gun that was left unsecured by a careless gun owner.  Armatix, a Southern California gun lock company owned by Belinda Padilla, has developed a smart gun that is designed to work only for the gun's owner. 

To activate the gun, the owner must enter a 5 digit PIN into a radio frequency watch.  The gun disables itself if it is more than 10 inches away from the radio signal.

James Mitchell, owner of the Oak Tree Gun Club near Los Angeles, was an early supporter of the smart gun.  He provided Ms. Padilla with a specially decorated lane at his club range where she could demonstrate the gun for club members.  Branded sweatshirts and jackets could be purchased in the club's gun shop, and a sign outside the front door advertised that sales of the 22 calibre pistol were planned to begin this Spring. Mr. Mitchell was quoted by the Washington Post as saying the iP1 smart gun "could revolutionize the gun industry."

Then the NRA got involved.

what eye thynk:   The NRA and its rabid followers saw, not a safety feature, but another government conspiracy.  Wayne LaPierre said the gun would open "the door to a ban on all guns that do not possess the government-required technology."

Gun enthusiasts, taking their cue from the NRA, called for a boycott of the Oak Tree Gun Club.  Calgun.net, a gun owner Internet forum, called for a vigilante-style investigation of both Oak Tree and Armatix.  One Calgun.net poster wrote "I have no qualms with the idea of personally and professionally leveling the life of someone who has attempted to profit from disarming me and my fellow Americans."  

Shortly afterwards, Ms. Padilla, who has been the target of late night phone calls and has seen pictures of the address where she maintains a P.O. box appear on social media sites, arrived at the gun club to find her booth painted over, her signage gone and all her branded merchandise removed from the shop's shelves. "Honestly, I was in disbelief," she said.  "It's like I never existed."  James Mitchell now denies ever having had any connection to Ms. Padilla or her smart gun. 

"Right now, unfortunately, these organizations that are scaring everybody have the power," Ms. Padilla said.  "All we're doing is providing extra levels of safety to your individual right to bear arms.  And if you don't want our gun, don't buy it.  It's not for everyone."

When people like Wayne LaPierre read of a child whose life may have been saved if the loaded gun found under her uncle's sofa cushion had been Ms. Padila's iP1 smart pistol instead of an NRA approved, unlocked handgun, do they feel anything at all for that family?  How out-sized is their self-absorption?

Fortunately, there are people like entrepreneur and gun-safety advocate Ron Conway, who do not see gun safety as anti-ethical to the Second Amendment. Mr. Conway is offering $1 million in prize money for developers of advanced gun safety designs and technology through a U.S. Justice Department grants program. 
  
Organizations like the NRA seem to believe they hold the moral high ground in condemning people like Ron Conway or Belinda Padilla.  But when your crusade attracts people who brag they could gleefully "level the life" of gun safety advocates, your ground is neither high nor moral.