America’s gun owners can expect the calls for government to dictate so-called “smart guns” to ratchet up now that one company has delivered its first production guns to consumers.
Biofire Group announced this week that it had shipped its first “Smart Guns,” which the company called a “key milestone.”
“The Smart Guns shipped today are the culmination of years of incredible effort and problem solving by the Biofire team,” Kai Kloepfer, founder and CEO of Biofire, said in a press release. “This accomplishment marks a realization of a dream that many believed to be impossible, a firearm that is instantly accessible to the owner while remaining secure from unauthorized use: the world’s first and only biometric firearm on the market.”
Biofire says the Smart Gun, chambered in 9mm, locks the moment it leaves the user’s hand and cannot be fired unless an authorized user picks it back up. According to the company’s website: “Biofire’s proprietary Guardian Biometric Engine uses integrated fingerprint and 3D facial recognition systems to verify your identity in any situation. Instantly unlock your firearm just by picking it up—no codes, buttons, or gadgets required.”
The striker-fired semi-auto pistol utilizes a rechargeable lithium battery to run the electronic components. With a 4.7-inch barrel and 8.7-inch overall length, the gun is somewhat of a boat anchor, weighing in at 2.6 pounds unloaded. It has a capacity of 10+1 or 15+1 of 9mm rounds.
The grip material is glass-filled nylon, and the barrel is made of stainless steel. Along with a rear notch and reciprocating blade front sight, it also has a fully integrated laser sight.
One of the main problems with such technology, aside from the fact that “smart guns” made so far haven’t functioned adequately, is the fact that some in government will soon want to dictate that only such “smart guns” should be sold for safety’s sake. Don’t be surprised to see such legislation coming down the pike soon with Biofire’s recent announcement.
Call me skeptical, but until I can get one of these guns in my hand and give it a good test, I’ll stick with my trusty conventional firearms. And the chances of doing that anytime soon is somewhat slim, since the launch edition is already sold out and the next batch is not set to deliver to consumers until early 2025.
The Smart Gun is available for order now, however, at a price of $1,499. A refundable $149 deposit can get you in line to own one when the next batch is ready to distribute.
However, as Lee Williams of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project reported here last April, independent testing is not being allowed by the company.
“What you can’t do is shoot the thing before you plunk down your money, nor can nearly anyone else,” Williams wrote. “Biofire is not allowing independent reviews of its new smart gun, at least not anytime soon.”
I’ll give it consideration as soon as it is endorsed and in full use by Heels Up Harris’s security team
Well, need to think about this a bit. Do I spend $1.5K on this wonderful, modern POS or do I spend the $1500 on ammo for my cheap Blue Label Glocks so I can become a better shooter?
Decisions, decisions – what’s a mother to do?
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The fact that they won’t let reviewers test it is a very good indication that it is garbage.
Fortunately for everyone, Matt from DemolitionRanch or someone else on YouTube will soon get ahold of one, and then let us know that it is garbage.
I think Ian Maccallum previewed one a while ago.
My question is if the battery goes flat or the electronics are disabled (will it survive a water test?), does the gun go to “fail safe” or “fail danger”?
If left up to toe tapping democRat drama queens it’s still not smart enough to be in schools…
Even if it works reliably and well, and ignoring questions about fail-safe vs, fail-dangerous,
You should be able to take it apart and alter the mechanism to make it analog-only, without too much difficulty.
Also I think it’s a solution seeking a problem, rather than the other way around.
Or rewire it to remove the logic from the circui & turn the trigger into a simple switch
Also should not be difficult
At $1500 a pop, vs as little as $400 for a Turkish knockoff 1911, why would anyone bother with removing the circuitry?
Oooops. My bad. Thieves would do that. That makes it a $0.00 investment, vs that $400 1911. Yeah, I’m looking forward to the first use of a biometric pistol in a gangland massacre.
Kind of defeats the purpose of paying $1500 bucks for an otherwise mediocre compact 9mm… Pick them up all day for under $500, if they mandate them just go out and grab up whatever you can afford before that happens, I passed buying guns because I NEED another one, now I buy because I want it… Do what they will, they cannot make four or five hundred million firearms (466 million estimated) instantly obsolete…
Nor, more importantly, can they make them all disappear.
“Or rewire it to remove the logic from the circui & turn the trigger into a simple switch”
I’m sure their little law will make modifying it a felony, if you ever use it in a DGU…
When everything is a felony, nothing is.
I’m sure nobody who steals one would be the kind of person to commit a felony.
OMG you’ll void the warranty!!!
Not to worry, Biofire won’t be around long enough for warranty claims.
No criminal or conservative could possibly be smart enough to think of that, we’re better than them, so it should be ok.
Sieg Heil!
Complexity creates problems.
It’s kinda neat but I won’t ever buy one.
I will never purchase one or be forced to.
Will it work after an EMP attack?
007,
“Will it work after an EMP attack?”
Almost assuredly NOT.
For all we know it won’t even work in the presence of strong low frequency magnetic fields or radio frequency environments.
007,
“Will it work after an EMP attack?”
Almost assuredly NOT.
For all we know it won’t even work in the presence of strong low frequency magnetic fields or radio frequency environments.
007,
“Will it work after an EMP attack?”
Almost assuredly NOT.
For all we know it won’t even work in the presence of strong low frequency magnetic fields or radio frequency environments.
Seems like the squirrels had too much coffee this morning.
My stupid mouse button is on the fritz–a single push with my finger sometimes results in multiple clicks. This triple identical post is an artifact of that defective mouse button.
… which is why I would NEVER trust my life to any tool controlled by crucial electronics crucial electronics crucial electronics
Your next car will almost certainly have a remote government kill switch in it, to go along with all the monitoring equipment that will be in it.
So will these guns, at some point. What a joke.
By a new mouse. They are, like, $10 and can even be bought in supermarkets.
A “smart gun” that can also be shut off at the whims of a politician or president? No thanks, I will stick with my “dumb guns”.
All my guns are smart. They know enuf to stay quiet and mind their own business until their brain picks them up and tells them to do something.
Chris,
^^^^ THIS!!! Frankly, my Kimber 1911 is hammer simple, and goes bang first time, every time (even with fancy “defense” ammo). Seems like a frickin’ GENIUS of a gun, to me!!
When LEO and the Military agree to carry “smart guns” I may consider it.
I predict Biofire will be bankrupt by 2026 as it’s doubtful they will have the sales to maintain production. Also, I’d be curious to know how many of these guns were produced in the initial run and who actually bought them.
People wanting to reverse engineer how to bypass them.
“I predict Biofire will be bankrupt by 2026 as it’s doubtful they will have the sales to maintain production.”
They will stay in business by passing laws forcing gun stores to stock it in slave states…
Might make the gun a collector piece then.
So 1 per store or whatever nonsense minimum. They would only sell if the other options were then illegal and that would be a spicy lawsuit on a lot of fronts.
No, SAFE, unfortunately REAL slave states, like KKKalifornia and (I think) New Joisey, passed legislation requiring that, once the technology is commercially available, people can ONLY buy “smart guns”. Sure, SCOTUS will slam dunk such laws into the weeds (eventually, and unless the Dimocrat Leftist/fascists succeed in ‘packing the court’), but just watch, I’ll bet many of the blue states follow suit once there is a “smart gun” option “on the market”, regardless of how crappy it is. The gun-grabbing blue states went apesh*t after Bruen, passing laws ‘responding to Bruen’ that any halfwit can easily see do NOT meet the Bruen standards (although limiting that recognition to halfwits or above does exclude the vast bulk of the Leftist/fascists!), because they KNEW that any case to overturn the new “Bruen response” laws will take at least six years, and more likely 10, to get to SCOTUS. That gives the 6 – 10 years to pursue their court packing schemes.
Endless fighting in court will be the blue states for several constitutional issues. But unless court/ballot packing and full commie takeover occurs it will serve as a petri dish for what bullshit they will try and how red states can pass laws to make irrelevant at home. Just remember not to bail us out next time we go broke and there will be less state funding to fight the legal challenges.
“The striker-fired semi-auto pistol utilizes a rechargeable lithium battery to run the electronic components.”
Any firearm requiring batteries to operate is a firearm that will someday not operate due to a dead battery. This is the smoke alarm of firearms. You better remember to charge the thing or replace the batteries on a regular basis like your life depends on it because it might.
“Any firearm requiring batteries to operate is a firearm that will someday not operate due to a dead battery.”
According to them, that’s a feature, not a bug.
A gun that fails to fire prevents ‘gun violence’. (gag)
YOU being dead is preferable to a poor, disadvantage youth (just getting his life together) losing his life…
Or worse yet, burst into flames, as lithium ion batteries seem to have a propensity to do.
““Biofire’s proprietary Guardian Biometric Engine uses integrated fingerprint and 3D facial recognition systems to verify your identity in any situation.”
It is Oh-dark:thirty, no moon, no streetlights, no automobile traffic, it’s freaking DARK, and six bad guys have chased me through a field of mud and muck. Is that POS facial recognition and fingerprint thing still working? You better bend over, and kiss your ass good-bye, because you KNOW it isn’t working! Even if the circuitry hasn’t shorted out completely, there’s no light, and the sensors are crudded up.
RFID, biometrics and facial recognition have already been proven to be unreliable, easily defeated and untrustworthy, so for $1,500.00, I’ll buy me a couple more ‘dumb’ Glocks.
Mandate them for law enforcement and the military first, then you may ask us politely to accept the technology too. We’ll probably refuse, of course, because we stopped accepting illogical “public safety” ideas from politicians a long time ago.
Do they plan to include other calibers, or is everyone going to be relegated to 9mm only? Don’t want my life dependent on anything that requires “recharging” AND not a big fan of 9mm…
“… not a big fan of 9mm …”
Meh, 9mm is a decent caliber (as decent as any handgun platform) with careful ammunition selection.
Having said that, my normal “everyday carry” handgun is chambered in .40 S&W, loaded with 180 grain bonded jacketed hollowpoint bullets for decent barrier penetration performance.
And when I am out camping, hiking, and even hunting, I carry a large revolver chambered in .44 Magnum–which happens to be only slightly heavier than this Biofire Smart Gun monstrosity.
I carry a 10mm G29… I keep a 9mm Kel-Tec Sub 2000 in my tour pack with 32 round mags, decent enough back up…
MAXX,
I love the DESIGN of the Sub2000, but . . . the QC sucks. Love mine (now) but I did pretty much a full upgrade (new trigger group, springs, polished steel feed ramp, sights, rails, etc.). NOW, it runs like a top. LOVE the platform, just . . . WHY?? For an extra Benjy (or at most two), Kel-Tec could have put in a decent trigger, stronger springs, better sights, and a few other things, and MAYBE just did a little bit better ‘fit and finish’. But, YEAH, GREAT little gun, once the rough spots are out.
For an extra Benjy, S&W sells that and it folds in the correct direction.
Here’s a thought: Could Biofire be held liable if the gun didn’t fire when you, or loved ones, wherei n danger? From Biofire’s description of the security features the gun would be rendered useless if you don’t have the “proper” grip, i.e., grabbing it off the night stand, or in a hands-on wrestling match with the BG.
If Biofire has any brains at all, sales of their handguns will include a liability waiver / disclaimer.
PLCAA would actually not protect against that lawsuit……
How many magnets do you guys think it’ll take to get this one to shoot?
At least it’s a real caliber unlike the Armitix.
Beisdes that I’d be curious about reliability considering the Armitix was a 22 and seemed to have problems.
You spelled “suckers” wrong.
My fingerprints are hammered. I can’t unlock my phone even and when fingerprinted for CPLs and such, as I hold a Washington CPL, Idaho Enhanced and Arizona concealed licenses, it’s difficult getting prints. I live in eastern Washington and what the hell happens in the winter with caps, beards and such?
It’s not just No, it’s No Effing Way would I trust that hunk of crap with my life when I depended on it. Yeah sure, it works under ideal situations but how often in a DGU is the situation ideal?
Let’s just see the gubermint try to force that on us. It ain’t happenin.
They’ve been marketing this as a stay at home nitestand gun, parked in it’s special recharger, for people with idiot kids, no other guns, and $1500 to blow on a gun they’ll never use. It’s obviously not a EDC. It weighs more empty than my fully loaded Glock 34.
Spec sheet:
https://smartgun.com/tech-specs
Of course the most exciting feature is the backdoor that enabled Federal LEO to remotely disable the gun, permanently.
i can see it will fail the mud test.
Once gun controllers (sorry, I meant gun grabbers pushed for a mandate to require all new firearms sold to have these once they became available doomed it to failure.
Finally, for $1500 you can now purchase an accessory to make your KelTec gun collection look svelte.
From thr PT Barnum school of merchandising.
Soon the phrase “Oh crap! I forgot to charge my gun”…will actually be a thing.
Too bad it will be this trash and not something like a phased plasma rifle in the 40watt range.
First before requiring any citizens to be forced to have to own these.
If it is the Feds that make the requirement, then every single federal agency, including the armed forces must all switch over for 5 years, no agency or department exemptions or exceptions, the Secret Service, the FBI, IRS, BATF, Dept of Ed, Dept of Labor, etc all 65 agencies and 27 offices of the inspector general, plus the 6 military branches…
If it is the States that make the requirement, then every single state, county, city and municipal agency that has armed employees, must switch over for 5 years, again no exemptions or exceptions…
Then we can start the discussion of maybe we’ll allow the 2nd Amendment to be violated with an unconstitutional requirement of mandating “smart guns”
I am not a fan of this technology, facial/fingerprint recognition for a mechanical device such as a gun – this would be more accurately called a bio-imprinted password. For my phone (which has an emergency 9-1-1 bypass no unlock necessary) and I am also not relying on it to defend my life on demand I can make allowances to enable the protection to keep prying eyes out of my personal information if it were to fall into a criminals or the governments hands (trusting the government not to violate the 4th is as funny as trusting them not to violate the 1st, 2nd, 5th, etc…) that the inconvenience of having to redo the fingerprint or facial scan is annoying but not life ending.
Essentially all this product has done has taken the fingerprint scan and/or facial scan and converted the biological information into a mathematical formula i.e. a hash value (see MD5) it won’t need an internet connection to run the cryptographic algorithm, the scans or the monitoring and storage of the values to compare against.
Now while this bio-recognition lock might be a product better versus with fumbling with a manual key lock or pin-pads in a middle of the night stressful situation, it still in my opinion has far more cons than pros.
Since most gun owners, expect to not only own keep their firearms for their lifetimes they also hope that they will bequeath their firearms to their family and still last for generations. This product given current technology puts battery replacement life at about once every 2-3 years and memory replacement at about every 10 years. Also this is a product that could be exposed to extreme environmental conditions, dropped, heat-humidity, rain, puddles etc how is the memory, electronics and battery protected to prevent damage.
Con#1 “Battery”: Regardless of how long a battery life it has it still at some point must be charged to be usable as designed; and with all rechargeable devices battery replacement will also be an issue and how is the memory of the “computer” managed with a dead or replaced battery. Keeping in mind that the battery could still be perfectly fine with over 300 to 500 charge cycles, but it could also fail sooner (how have they tested and gone through the battery manufacturer selection -cheapest and lowest quality or highest cost and most reliability) what kind of testing was performed to get the products anticipated life before replacement. – if the battery is damaged or being recharged what is protecting the owner from run away thermal issues.
Con#2 “Memory”: Depending on the memory and compression technology used can the stored hash values become corrupt over time, or lost? The electrical charge stored in a flash memory cells degrades over time, and will degrade much faster at extended temperatures; also the more you use a memory this type of memory cards, the more likely it is to degrade over time. A typical memory card can go through 10,000 to 1 million “write/erase” cycles before failing rates increase, but also sitting idle “cold” no electrical charge for extended periods will also cause corruption as the memory cells lose electrical charge. Also like the battery their is a finite physical age limit, typically 10 years. Keeping in mind that the memory could still be perfectly fine with over 2 million write/erase cycles and older then 10 years, but it could also fail sooner (how have they tested and gone through the memory manufacturer selection; their is a finite amount of times before it becomes unusable. -cheapest and lowest quality or highest cost and most reliability) what kind of testing was performed to get the products anticipated life before replacement.
Con#3 “motherboard”: If treated well and kept clean, a motherboard typically lasts between 10-20 years, though it is possible to last longer. This application of smart gun, could also put cleaning solvents and oils in contact with the motherboard(s) causing damage. Which means replacing the hardware with what will eventually become obsolete, and you may need to upgrade to the latest hardware.
Con#4 “reliability”: Facial and fingerprint recognition is vastly improved from a few years ago, but error rates are still high especially in the facial and in controlled settings are much more accurate then in real life scenarios. Also keep in mind that similarity scores and comparison thresholds to account for the false negative rates and false positive rates (families are going to look very similar – if your trying to prevent your daughter who looks a lot like her mom from accessing the gun, this could be a problem if the wife is the owner, or some other similar scenarios, like identical twins, etc. Then you have the recognition “racial” demographic biases, non-whites will find this product to have a much higher rate of false positives and will prevent the gun owner from accessing, especially in a need to defend type of situation.
Con#5 “quick to lock”: The manufacturer states that this product locks near immediately so anything from changing your hand grip location, changing the grip force from loose to tight, to switching hands temporarily and with the reliability factors, could lock out the owner when needed in a scenario where you are walking your house looking for the “source” of the late noise.
Con#6 “Software reliability and upgrades”: Since no one has been able to independently verify it at this moment we have to rely on the manufacturers statement that this is what they are doing and given their descriptions we can assume that they are probably doing what they claim they are. However, at some point we can trust but will need to verify; take the electronics apart and verify no Wi-Fi/Bluetooth or other radio communications chips or antennas are on the motherboard(s) and also to have a radio spectrum analyzer running to see if broadcasts are occurring. Also how is full manufacturer reset, or software updates (bugs/fixes) deployed when owners change in the case of reselling, or in the case of bequeathing to new a owner, or fixing a software flaw, or software algorithm improvements
[https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/biofire-addresses-some-common-concerns-about-their-smart-gun-and-how-it-works]
Given the recent announcement from Biofire about delivering its first production smart guns ahead of schedule—originally slated for 2Q 2025—we can anticipate increased calls from hoplophobes and the fascists masquerading as government officials to mandate so-called “smart guns” under the guise of safety.
The main issues with this technology go beyond the current inadequacies in functionality. There is a growing concern that the government might soon push for legislation requiring only “smart guns” to be sold. With Biofire’s recent news, don’t be surprised if such legislative proposals start surfacing soon.
Moreover, a significant red flag is that Biofire is not allowing independent testing of its smart gun. Potential buyers, and the public at large, won’t have the opportunity to see how the gun performs before making a purchase, as independent reviews are also not permitted. This lack of transparency raises serious questions about the reliability and safety of this new technology.
You can read more about the situation: https://www.aol.com/news/america-first-biometric-smart-gun-173852127.html
I took apart a tool the other day that takes a battery, the battery was dead and the contacts were all corroded… not from the battery which wasn’t leaking but from the humidity here in middle TN
Worked for a Medical Device Mfg for 19 years and our BioID was the worst on Asians/Philippinos…, the elderly, people with dry skin… or who may have a damaged finger
Gloves are out, will it work if you are wearing hat, sunglasses or grow facial hair
Fall or during a fight, hands get bloodied, wet, muddy, dirty…
Oh crap, just applied my Rx creme for my skin condition
Well, no longer need to practice that close quarters shoot from the belt line
I would love for someone to go before Congress with all the above and see how many can even open their cell phones in under 1 sec let alone unlock a firearm to possibly save their life or a family member
Exciting development in firearm technology! The introduction of the first ‘smart gun’ marks a significant step forward in enhancing gun safety by preventing unauthorized use. This innovation could be a game-changer in the ongoing effort to reduce accidental shootings and firearm misuse.
Go update your fire stick and let us know how it goes.
Ohh MAN!! Don’t be mad.
Mad? No just waiting for you to take your own advertising advice.
… L Oliver spelled sideways is. Lie Lovr
I prefer Lie Lovr over Gay Lovr!!
Well, this forum has pretty much demolished the whole concept of “smart guns” EVEN IF they actually worked. The technical issues are obvious to even the most casual observer. The practical issues (even if it has the capability to ‘record’ two or three or even four ‘authorized users’, what happens if you are hors d’ combat and none of them are around, but you have, for example, a really good friend over? He can’t use the gun, so it is basically an overpriced paperweight) are also disqualifying. “Smart guns” are inherently stupid, from the POV of both design/engineering AND from technical practicality, but they may have ONE positive aspect.
We all know there are some ‘uncommitted’ potential gun owners who might make the leap if they felt comfortable with the idea of having a gun that was resistant to abuse by thieves, they MIGHT be more likely to make the leap. Since they were probably NOT going to ‘make the leap’ without that reassurance (no matter how objectively stupid it is), so they end up with a crappy gun, but STILL a gun. Some percentage will feel responsible to do further training, learn why their gun is a POS, and ‘graduate’ to a better firearm. Otherwise, well, at least they have A gun (that they probably wouldn’t have had, but for the “smart” option). Overall, while I think it’s a stupid decision, it’s a compromise I can live with.
Nothing that a dremel tool can’t fix. Cut off the locking mechanism, and it becomes a regular firearm.