re: #55 Interesting Times

Smart guns have been criticized by gun-rights groups like the NRA[2] as well as by gun-control groups like the Violence Policy Center. Gun-rights groups generally feel that smart gun technology is an attempt to control citizen ownership of guns. The Violence Policy Center feels smart guns will make gun ownership more commonplace by making guns seem safer. [3]

Some smart gun technology uses a Verichip which is permanently embedded under the user’s skin in order to activate the gun (and to prevent unauthorized users from stealing or duplicating a non-implanted ring or bracelet activator).[4] Verichip is a technology that has been strongly criticized by privacy advocates.

Many gun enthusiasts object to smart guns on a philosophical/regulatory basis as well as a technological basis. Gun expert Boston T. Party writing about smart guns on page 35/24 of Boston’s Gun Bible says “No defensive firearm should ever rely upon any technology more advanced than Newtonian physics. That includes batteries, radio links, encryption, scanning devices and microcomputers. Even if a particular system could be 99.9% reliable, that means it is expected to fail once every 1000 operations. That is not reliable enough. My life deserves more certainty.”

Just a quick blurb from the Smart Gun wiki. So what you have is a lack of research into it by actual gun companies as well as the gun-nut lobbyists crying about freedom etc. It’s one of those things, like clean energy, that would probably be commonplace in today’s world if there wasn’t so much effort and money in lobbying against it.