Oh yeah, strap in, we gonna have fun.
So a buncha folks have emailed me about the “Smart Gun” kerfluffle. This article says everything I have to say on the subject. TL;DR: Smart guns are bullshit. I work in I.T., and technology fails all the time, or I wouldn’t have a job. My guns are simple mechanical machines – introducing more tech into the mix just asks for critical, fatal failure. If I need my firearm, I will likely be in a position where I can’t troubleshoot or reboot the fucking thing.
I also liked this article here.
Finally, I am so very much digging this band right now.
I think… I think it updated on time!
Wheeeee!
define “on time.” east coast here and it wasn’t visible until just a bit ago.
Yup. Still, much better than “mid-afternoon.”
Oh dear sounds like there might be multiple offers made on the shop after all…wonder who will win Alex or Heidi…May I suggest topless jello wrestling to decide the winner?
Alex is gunna be pissed. At first. Then she’s going to probably laugh her ass off.
We have a saying in the theater community that applies especially to theater design: “Idiot proofing a theater is nigh on impossible.” I think it applies in the design and construction of anything.
“As soon as you make something fool-proof, somebody breeds a bigger fool.”
A similar problem applies to making things bomb-proof, only the bombs are usually made bigger on purpose.
It’s hard enough to squaddie-proof something.
I’ve known grunts who could fuck up a stick with a rock stuck on it, and those have been around fucking forever…
So now we can go from “I thought it was unloaded” to “Oopsie.. get I.T. … and a mop…” and since loading and pulling the trigger are an end user problem at the moment, not something that can be blamed on someone else.. and software glitches are not, and people tend to rely on things like software… I can imagine the problem trying to find someone to sue over ‘Sudden Unintended Discharge’ or even getting shot with your own gun, because you either handed it to a friend, and said “Go ahead. It’s a smart gun!” Or the smart gun gets taken away, and used successfully to shoot the owner. An owner that didn’t mind it being taken away by an attacker because ‘It’s a smart gun… he can’t shoot me with it.”
Worse idea than a series 80 firing pin safety.
Oh, yeah. Strolling along, all legal and safe, with your smart gun in its holster, and the rain you were ignoring turns out to be a thunderstorm. Lightning comes down near you and the EMP sets off the gun. Nice situation. If if fires it or fries it, it’s a problem. How often do you have to test the thing to be sure it’s going to work when you need it? What if you need it because something bad has already happened and the something bad tore up the thumb whose print the gun wants before it’ll fire?
Glad I’m not the only one who hates the failed abortion that is the series 80 safety device.
I hope this goes the way all of Mr. Berdan’s adventures go. I can’t wait to see it.
Consider all the problems facing the Iphone, lets just take that one device. its similar, gets used every day, compact case, designed for carry.
I live in los angeles. if i Drive somewhere, with my truck with no AC, with my phone on in the 90 degreee heat, the phone overheats and shuts down.
alright, what if i drop it in water? slip and drop it on the pavement? accidentally set it on a magnetic device?
There is just too much shit that can go wrong here.
I’ve never had a problem with a smart gun being AVAILABLE. I DO however have a HUGE EFFING PROBLEM with such a firearm being MANDATED. I work in IT as well. The failure rate of those things as tested in a lab by the company was 15%(roughly, haven’t looked back to verify the numbers after seeing the company spokescritter stating eighty-something percent). It MIGHT bring more people into the gun world who fear a child getting a hold of it and shooting themselves… But if it’s mandated, GFY. Tech breaks. A simple handset for a phone breaks. And it’s not being hit with the shock vibrations of a firearm being fired.
Plus I don’t like the tech this gun uses. In one of the articles profiling the gun, it said that if you move the gun to the other hand- the one the accompanying watch isn’t on- then the gun won’t work. I shoot ambidextrously. Were I mandated to use this POS, I’d have to switch the watch to different hands every time I switch the gun to a different hand. Nah, wake me when the tech gets as good as James Bond’s gun in “Skyfall”, with a reading of the palm print or whatever it is. And make it so I can load my wife’s palmprint on there too. And make it shoot a decent defensive caliber.
And give the gun and the accompanying watch in a package deal with one price. Currently they’re being offered separately, at quite expensive prices. But hey, poor people don’t need guns, cuz poor people and their cheap guns cause crime according to the anti-gun forces.
Not to mention, .22LR? SERIOUSLY!!! Perhaps we could get at least a somewhat better caliber?
I’d have gone for a more 1911 frame approach. You could put the tech part in the spring box. Don’t like it, rip it out and put in a standard. At least with that, I could understand the 1500 price tag. It should be a 1 meter range. That way it can be on a necklace, or in a wallet. And 1911’s already have several safety features. I believe Kimbers even have a firing pin block, so if the hammer falls while the trigger is not depressed, it won’t fire. So it COULD have been there.
You may not have a problem with smart guns being available, but I disagree with you for a reason you touched on in your comment: “It MIGHT bring more people into the gun world who fear a child getting a hold of it and shooting themselves…” In other words, people may neglect proper gun safety because “it’s a smart gun, it’s safe”. It’ll be like “but I know the gun is unloaded” except worse.
I do notice that the most vehement opponents of smart guns are pro-gun IT professionals. I think that says a lot. I’m somewhat curious to talk to some anti-gun IT professionals to get their opinions.
Agree.
I was taught that the only safety device on a firearm is the user. EVERYTHNIG breaks, even mechanical ‘safeties.’ Only good training and awareness brings reasonable expectations of safety. And yes, sometimes the operator breaks, too… But generally, I’d MUCH rather rely on a well-trained user than on anything else.
Actually with as buggy as it is, (15-20 rounds out of a 100 round shooting session) it’ll probably drive more of them to other firearms. It’ll be like a hi-point that costs as much as an AR-15. When they get to the range, and it fails, these people with enough money to waste on a $2000 .22LR pistol will begin talking with other gun owners. They will then learn what other gun owners learn, basic safety. They might even have that opportunity to understand how that firearm should be treated with respect.
And come on… Guns are like tattoos. Once you get one, you start thinking about your next one.
The only quibble I have with you is your implied comparison of Hi-Points to smart guns. Hi-Points are ugly and crude, but they’re cheap and, in my experience, they go bang every time – pretty much the exact opposite of a smart gun.
Also, most people in IT who know guns are anti-smart gun. We KNOW how technology can fail. We know guns fail. Add in tech to a gun, and well that’s just askin for it.
I look at firearms as a ‘life-critical system’ class of device: a 15% failure rate is beyond unacceptable for such a device. (for that matter, a 1% failure rate is unacceptable, but hey, you pays your money and takes your chances.)
Pro-gun IT professionals hate it because they no it will be a piece of shit.
Anti-gun IT professionals don’t like it because guns.
I live in MN. It’s freaking -30 F here occasionally, -20 quite often. My g04amn iPhone reliably shuts down if it goes below about 30 F internally… So I carry it in an internal pocket , with a wireless headset UNDER my hat if I need it outdoors. Can’t exactly carry my rifle that way… And a pistol would be JUST A BIT slow to deploy under those constraints.
It’s enough of a f*ckaround getting my AMMO to function reliably in our weather’s full range, I will not add electronics to this mix.
Mobile network failure. Enter WEP2 password for WIFI authentication.
I don’t think that feral boar is waiting for his authentication.
I appreciate firearms for their mechanical simplicity. a few simple machines calibrated well and assembled properly make a small chunk of metal move very quickly. technology may facilitate, but until we have “Do what I MEAN” I don’t want it in my guns. (and ‘do what I mean” is terrifying in of itself)
Smart anything is asking for trouble.
Hmmm in the near future. Pistol, ” I am sorry Pistol Packing Polaris Packrat, I can not fire. We are in a gun free zone.” Or worst, ” I am sorry Dave, you have not upload version 30.08. Please contact us for your firearm smart pack update. ” I too work in It.
“Your SmartGun 9mm Mk35 has almost finished updating its operating system and now needs to be restarted. Do you want to restart now or later?”
Yet in every instance (NJ and CA IIRC) where they’re ‘mandated’ after introduction, the authorities are exempt from their use.
Telling.
Make it ‘mandated’ for them and then we’ll talk.
re: papparazzi
As near as I can determine, the origins of them is the flight across the Atlantic by Charles Lindbergh. He appears to be the first mega celebrity, judging by their actions. All the sneaky, underhanded, and illegal methods we see today seem to have first been used to make his life miserable. I just read his book “The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh”, and he comments some on the subject. He started the book about 1937, when he took his family to Europe to escape the media.
Interesting view of the run-up to the European start to the war. Especially now, due to the recent revelations about FDR’s meddling that appears to have caused the Brits and French to decide to oppose Hitler’s attack into Poland. Taken with the FDR action that caused the Japanese to attack the US, it can now be said that FDR was the catalyst for WW2.
For an example of how the MSM can distort the public’s view of things, Lindbergh got painted as a Pacifist and un-American due to his push to keep the US out of the Euro war in ’39-’41. He couldn’t get back into the Army Air Corp (he was a Col) due to the politics of this.
He eventually wrangled his way out to the Pacific front as a rep for an aircraft manufacturer in ’44, and then proceeded to fly combat missions with some of our top pilots there, in the P-38. He ended up leading flights of fighters. He taught them how to near double the range of that plane, and had a confirmed air kill, which got him yanked from Army planes. He just moved on to flying with the Marines, on the Corsair. He designed new bomb mounts, and increased the bomb load it could carry, from 1k lbs to 4k lbs of bombs! He did the test flying, in combat, of this improvement. Flew at least 50 combat missions total, before leaving for home. Pilots he flew combat with have stated that he actually had multiple air kills, but I suspect that he didn’t make claims for them due to his non-official status. BTW, he was 42 yo while flying combat, twice the age of the typical pilot.
whoops! sorry about the long post…
Not to mention that his advice on extending range made shooting down of Jamamoto possible.
I had to check the timeline. Yamamoto was shot down in ’43, and Lindbergh didn’t get out there until ’44.
I note that Wiki has him flying the Corsair first, and then the P-38, contrary to his own journal. Library book. I’ll have to see if I can confirm the dates quoted to figure out the mistake.
As one of the more liberal posters, allow me to say that I COMPLETELY agree that “smart guns” are not going to be a good way to deal with the issue. The technology simply isn’t good enough, but even if it were, simple basic security would be better.
That said, I still think one of the biggest problems we face is that so many are so adamantly opposed to ANY regulation at all, they scare the rest of the country.
I trust that you realize WHY so many oppose all regulation.
“Hello (Firearm company) Technical support how may i help you?”
“My (name of firearm) wont fire! *wizzing bullets and gunshots*”
“Ok can you verify that your (name if firearm) is loaded?”
“OF F*CKING COURSE IT IS LOADED! *More gunshots*”
“No need to get angry, sir. Have you tried turning it off and on?”
“Stupid fu*king smart gun piece of…*more gun shots*”
I don’t even like drive by wire in my cars, fuck fire by wire.
Isn’t the simplest objection “And how does this affect the hundreds of years of guns which don’t have them already?”
I carry a Glock because I don’t want additional parts (grip safety, etc) that might fail at the possibly most critical time of my life. Glocks have an amazingly small # of parts and most failure modes still result in a gun that can be fired at least once or manually repeatedly. Only 6 wound springs in the gun at the most (2 on some recoil roads, trigger reset, drop safety, extractor, firing pin) and only the firing pin spring & recoil rod assembly is really necessary for the gun to function. No grip safety (I’m looking at you, XD), no magazine disconnect (buh bye large frame Rugers & many S&W M&Ps), and no mechanical safety on the slide or frame. Point and click(bang).
Sean: I’ve been bitten (at the range, fortunately) by the grip safety on my XD keeping me from firing it. However, it’s supposed to foce you into holding the thing correctly to begin with, but I can certainly see your point of view.
Sean — The Ruger mag disconnect safeties come right out. It’s easy. They were obviously designed by gun savvy engineers who were just placating lawyers.
If I owned a gun from the SR9 family, the mag disconnect would magically fall out of my pistol — just like the mag disconnects magically fall out of every GP35 I’ve had for more than 10 minutes.
Yeah, I hate mag disconnects, too – they actually make the gun LESS safe.
After all, when clearing a piece, what’s the first thing you do? Dump the mag, so you don’t inadvertently chamber another round at some point.
What’s the last thing you do? Pull the trigger to drop the hammer or safety. Only with a mag disconnect, you have to REINSERT the magazine you had earlier removed for safety reasons. That makes you one brain fart closer to a negligent discharge. I prefer to stay as many brain farts away from unintended loud noises as possible. . . because sooner or later, brain farts happen. The more I have to have to screw up, the longer it’ll be until I screw up.
Thanks, I’m going to have to look this band up …
(_Man_, if that tape was sweatproof, I hope they put gauze behind the centers of the x’s … … …)
The “Smart Gun” came up on NPR this AM. I changed stations before my head could explode. Was a near-run thing.
People want a smart phone with teh reliability of a Kalashnikov, not a Kalashnikov with the reliability of a smart phone.
The population that would benefit the MOST from a smart gun would be cops – as one of the largest threats they face is actually being shot by a police pistol in a criminal’s hands after a wrestling match. But cops are exempted from all smart gun laws. . . because cops know they’ll get killed if they have to rely on smart guns.
When it’s good enough that police union members are striking until they get them, then we’ll talk. When it’s good enough to MANDATE that every law enforcement firearm is equipped as a smart gun, then I’ll actually start considering buying one.
You would have to be retarded to want to own a smart gun. I noticed that all appliances that have the word “smart” in front of them are actually dumb, cost more, fail more and are in general harder to operate but that is of course the desired effect.