Smart Guns and Gun Safety Features
What does it solve?
A personalized—or “smart”—gun is a firearm that employs authorized-use technology, like the thumb scan or passcode available on many smartphones, to turn stolen guns and guns accessed by children into harmless pieces of steel. If widely implemented, it would be a game-changer for keeping guns out of the hands of children and criminals.
Each year, nearly 46,000 Americans die by guns—including more than 4,300 children and teens. There are an estimated 393 million civilian-owned firearms in the U.S., and more than one-third of homes contain at least one gun.
Authorized-use technology, as well as basic safety features like loaded chamber indicators, magazine safety disconnects, and other features designed to prevent a child from operating the gun, should be incorporated into new models of semiautomatic handguns to help prevent firearms from being unintentionally fired.
Despite the fact that guns are inherently dangerous, they are exempt from regulation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. In addition, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) blocks legal responsibility for gun manufacturers that have failed to innovate and make guns safer.
Consumer Safety
Which states require new handgun models to have childproofing features?
Alabama has not adopted this policy
Alaska has not adopted this policy
Arizona has not adopted this policy
Arkansas has not adopted this policy
California has adopted this policy
Colorado has not adopted this policy
Connecticut has not adopted this policy
Delaware has not adopted this policy
Florida has not adopted this policy
Georgia has not adopted this policy
Hawaii has not adopted this policy
Idaho has not adopted this policy
Illinois has not adopted this policy
Indiana has not adopted this policy
Iowa has not adopted this policy
Kansas has not adopted this policy
Kentucky has not adopted this policy
Louisiana has not adopted this policy
Maine has not adopted this policy
Maryland has adopted this policy
Massachusetts has adopted this policy
Michigan has not adopted this policy
Minnesota has not adopted this policy
Mississippi has not adopted this policy
Missouri has not adopted this policy
Montana has not adopted this policy
Nebraska has not adopted this policy
Nevada has not adopted this policy
New Hampshire has not adopted this policy
New Jersey has not adopted this policy
New Mexico has not adopted this policy
New York has not adopted this policy
North Carolina has not adopted this policy
North Dakota has not adopted this policy
Ohio has not adopted this policy
Oklahoma has not adopted this policy
Oregon has not adopted this policy
Pennsylvania has not adopted this policy
Rhode Island has not adopted this policy
South Carolina has not adopted this policy
South Dakota has not adopted this policy
Tennessee has not adopted this policy
Texas has not adopted this policy
Utah has not adopted this policy
Vermont has not adopted this policy
Virginia has not adopted this policy
Washington has not adopted this policy
West Virginia has not adopted this policy
Wisconsin has not adopted this policy
Wyoming has not adopted this policy
How it works
Smart gun technology and other gun safety features can stop unauthorized gun use.
Smart guns incorporate technology to ensure a gun can only be fired by a person who is authorized to use it. Similar to the thumb scan or passcode available on many smartphones, this technology would turn guns improperly accessed into harmless pieces of steel. Similarly, hundreds of thousands of guns are stolen every year, taken from houses, vehicles, and stores. Gun thefts often divert guns into an underground market where people with dangerous histories are easily able to obtain firearms without restriction. That is why stolen guns are often recovered at crime scenes, including at the scenes of homicides and other violent crimes. Smart guns make firearms inoperable to non-authorized users, and therefore could help eliminate the major public safety threat of stolen guns.
Other life-saving safety features can also be incorporated into semiautomatic handguns to help prevent them from being unintentionally fired. Even when a magazine is empty or removed, a round could be left in the firing chamber of the gun. A loaded chamber indicator visually indicates that a round is in the chamber, and a magazine safety disconnect prevents a gun from being fired if the magazine is removed. All new semiautomatic handgun models should have a loaded chamber indicator and a magazine safety disconnect to help prevent the gun from being fired unintentionally. They should also meet childproof standards that make it impossible for the average child to operate the gun, such as a higher trigger resistance making it difficult to fire the gun or requiring a series of multiple motions in order to fire the gun.