We’ve been hearing about “smart guns” for well over a quarter century. The dream (of some) has been a gun that recognizes its owner and will only work for that person. The idea is to make sure that people who aren’t authorized — thieves, children — are locked out and can’t use the firearm. That ideal is obvious and laudable. The history and execution, so far, have been less than impressive.

Lots of people have advocated a wide array of designs and hyped allegedly market-ready models. Some were well intentioned people who thought they could overcome the technological challenges involved. Some seemed more like snake oil salesmen who hawked not-ready-for-prime-time contraptions, some of which were downright awful.

Stephen Sliwa, president of Colt Manufacturing Co., holds a prototype of the company’s “smart gun” at the Colt plant in West Hartford, Conn., Friday, Oct. 23, 1998. The small transponder Sliwa holds in his right hand communicates with a small radio transmitter within the gun to operate the trigger. (AP Photo/Bob Child)

But we’re living in a time of string theories and God particles. Anything is possible, right? Technology marches on and no one really doubted that one day, someone would develop and market a viable “smart gun” with systems of one type or another that would reliably (within reason) ID authorized users.

Then along came the legislative wizards in New Jersey state government who single-handedly stifled “smart gun” design for a couple of decades. Led by some very big brains like Senator Loretta Weinberg, they enacted a law that mandated that once a smart gun design was marketed to consumers anywhere in the US, all guns sold in the Garden State would have to have the technology.

In the grand tradition of Soviet central planning, Senator Weinberg’s mandate had some, shall we say, unintended consequences among rational economic actors who live and work out here in the real world.

To wit, the Jersey mandate put a damper on “smart gun” R&D. No one wanted to trigger the law and be responsible for condemning millions of Garden State gun buyers to having a choice of exactly one gun.

lodestar smartgunz smart gun
Smoke and mirrors? (courtesy Reuters)

Over many years and against all odds, enough people screamed, yelled and ridiculed Senator Weinberg that finally, in a significant concession and a sotto voce admission of responsibility, she was finally persuaded to alter the New Jersey mandate law. Now, under the revised statue, once a “smart gun” is marketed to consumers in the US, New Jersey gun retailers will be allowed to continue to sell traditional guns. They’ll just have to also stock the smart gun model so buyers will have that as an option.

No one mourned the passing of the Armatix “smart gun.”

All of which is how we finally find ourselves today with what appears to be an actual, viable product being sold by Biofire. The company has been taking orders for guns that they say will begin shipping in small quantities in the last quarter of this year and become more widely available to consumers in the first half of 2024.

We talked to Biofire’s founder Kai Kloepfer last week and he told us that orders had been coming in faster than the company had projected. And Biofire bought a sponsored email blast from us, which went out a couple of days ago.

The advertising side of the business here at TTAG is handled by other folks. That’s why I wasn’t even aware of the ad until I started to get emails about it. Most of those who wrote weren’t happy.

Here’s a selection . . .

I know TTAG needs money, Dan, but . . . . 

No way should anyone have to rely on a weapon that needs charging . . .

How ironic they call this “the truth about guns”.  

Not interested in smart guns whatsoever.  In fact I’m opposed to them and you should be too. 

The graphic from TTAG’s Biofire email blast

You’d be able to count all the emails we got on two hands, but you have to figure that these represent the views of a lot more people who didn’t take the time to email.

A not insignificant number of gun owners seem to be morally affronted that a company would produce a firearm with biometric technology. They somehow see “smart guns” as a threat to their gun rights and can’t believe that we would stoop so low as running an ad for a product like the Biofire smart gun.

Biofire’s Kloepfer is under no illusions. He’s well aware that his product probably won’t have much appeal for most of the kinds of people who read this and other firearm-related sites. But as he told me last week, he and Biofire are staunchly against any type of mandate like the disastrous one that New Jersey enacted lo these many years ago. And he’s one of those who worked to finally convince Sweet Loretta that her mandate law was counterproductive and only hurt the cause of “smart gun” development.

Does that mean some other anencephalic anti-gun legislator in another blue state won’t try the same thing once the Biofire and possibly other biometric guns become more widely available? Of course not. If there’s one thing that’s every bit as certain as death and taxes, it’s elected officials wanting to enact ill-conceived, poorly written laws for the rest of us to live under. Because they can. But good luck with that now that Bruen is the law of the land.

Do you want a smart gun? No? OK, don’t buy one. I don’t plan to ever buy one either. The idea of relying on a firearm — especially an early generation model — that depends on electronics to operate inside a tool with all of the forces generated by a typical handgun doesn’t give me a feeling of confidence. I’ll stick with my current home defense gun, thank you very much.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t think smart guns should be made and sold to the public. There are undoubtedly a lot of people out there who aren’t comfortable owning a handgun. The additional safety systems (fingerprint ID and facial recognition) that are designed into the Biofire gun might be enough to get them over the decision-making hump and prompt them to become gun owners.

I don’t know how many of those people are out there. Kloepfer and Biofire’s investors are banking that there are a lot of them. However many there may be, to the extent that “smart guns” like Biofire’s result in more gun owners, that’s a net plus no matter what kind of guns you choose to own.

More gun owners in America means more people who care about gun rights. That’s a win no matter what you think of “smart guns.”

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

162 COMMENTS

  1. In a nutshell, if it’s got a chip it can be controlled remotely, and shut down permanently. True blue gun CONTROL. Next question.

    • “if it’s got a chip it can be controlled remotely”

      Not true. Maybe you can EMP it, but if they’re blasting you with that much EM radiation you’re more screwed than just having your gun not work.

      • You are assuming they are not putting a “back door” in all the smart guns being made. Not a very smart assumption considering the history of the US corrupt deep state.

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      • Hi Eric, I appreciate the comment but I am sorry to tell you that you are wrong. Anything can be trapdoored. My hearing aids have miniature FM transmitters and receivers. I was at a convention and I could hear, in my right ear a conversation that two fellows were having on the other side of the convention hall. The tech exists and it WILL be integrated into the chips by government order. That’s the end game. Make the guns controllable. Make the purchase mandatory and then when the time is right, shut them all down.

        • “The tech exists and it WILL be integrated into the chips by government order.”

          Yes, the tech exists, and is used by China in every “chip” they send to the US. No need for the US govt to invent the “trapdoor”; we can negotiate a a contract to make the “trapdoor” available to USG.

        • Cute, but you’re in dreamland with that. Just “a chip” doesn’t make it network or remotely accessible, which is what it would take to be anything that could reasonably be called hacking. Even if it did have some alternate access method that you have to lay hands on the device to exploit, which I’d bet it does, it’s not a real security issue. They’re not advertising these as having military grade security, after all.

      • “…Maybe you can EMP it, but if they’re blasting you with that much EM radiation you’re more screwed…”

        As a ‘continuous wave’ of RF energy, yes. The RF doesn’t need to be continuous, a very short, very high powered pulse will do the trick, and they won’t be injured.

        It’s the same idea with liquid nitrogen. You can dunk your hand very quickly in LN2 and back out, with no permanent damage. Your hand acts like a reverse ‘Leidenfrost effect’ for a short period of time, protecting your hand.

        What nails computer chips is the microscopic small distances present in modern IC chips. There is a very short distance needed to be jumped, so a short, sharp spike in voltage absolutely can damage them.

        Thankfully, the ‘Bruen’ decision gives us a few years of breathing room. We’re gonna need it in the future…

        • … I mean they’re not gonna kill ya, so like if you give em a little short, sharp, shock – they won’t do it again. Dig it?, I mean he got off lightly…

        • If you’re planning to let them waltz RF equipment over to spitting distance of your position then you probably deserve what you get. Again, to be clear – there will be easier ways for them to get you at that point. Also the Leidenfrost reference is a weird non sequitur.

      • Eric, WRONG! If it has a chip, it can be hacked by a hacker. Not to mention that because it also has a battery, it like every other “smart” device can fail. This is not the brightest idea that the control freaks have come up with.

        • Nope. If they don’t have an internet connection then they can’t be hacked remotely. Just a “chip” isn’t enough.

        • Wrong again, Eric, to hack a chip does not require the internet. It’s done all the time. Think you better do some reading.

    • not only that, but you can’t teach your gf, wife, kids, buddy how to shoot with it. that’s what they REALLY want. They want the FUN part of shooting to go out of it, so we’ll stop gaining new converts to our sport

      • Yeah… yeah, you could. You can have it recognize other people, explicitly so you can loan it out. You ass-u-me too much.

    • Like everything else I rely on that takes batteries, that POS is dead when I need it most. Factor in that reality of the internet crap that is always connected and the vulnerability that implies. The fact that it will be disabled when pointed at bad people that will have the right proximity hack, like any number of cars that have been hacked by thieves that sniff for wireless keys. The fact that they most likely are not EMP proof, either short range or nuke, or even extream solar flare. Geeze I’ll stop here. Screw that, gimme a real gat. Low tech makes them good.

      • One of my neighbors recently had his stolen Lexus recovered along with five other vehicles that were recovered from the same pole barn because one of them had a tracker that was still working even though all of the cars had their batteries disconnected. Four of them had smashed headlight housings on them – that’s where the boosters plug their laptop into the headlight wiring, access the cars
        ” canbus “, and drive it away.

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  2. I pick guns on how they fit my hand, and how natural they are to shoot and shoot well. What are the odds that one of these will fit the bill? Is there a smart 1911?

    • Ransom
      same here I pick it up and if it “feelz” good I continue checking out the controls etc. if not I move on.
      Unless it’s something special or old where that doesn’t really matter because it’s more of a for the collection thing.

  3. We might think that if no smart guns were/are produced, then legislators could not/would not/cannot make smart guns mandatory.

    Kinda short-sighted, that.

    • “We might think that if no smart guns were/are produced, then legislators could not/would not/cannot make smart guns mandatory.”

      It’s our job in the years to come to make gun ownership so universal, they will have a hard time coming up with the votes to kill our rights…

      • “It’s our job in the years to come to make gun ownership so universal, they will have a hard time coming up with the votes to kill our rights…”

        Now, if those trying to take our rights gun-up, they can vote to kill our rights, or us, if things don’t go right for them.

  4. Too bad! I honestly didn’t realize that they expect to sell what they’ve been having trouble demoing on (for instance) the Forgotten Weapons channel. I thought they were still working out the reliability problems but apparently they just decided the electronics are all they need…

    To be fair their electronics do look like they could be pretty good but it doesn’t matter on that junk gun. Heck, it failed to get through a single magazine in Ian’s very friendly test firing.

    Oh well, somebody will get both parts right someday and it’ll be interesting then.

      • Makes more sense. Selling them in a “first batch almost sold out” e-mail blast doesn’t give me any confidence that they’re taking the problems very seriously though.

  5. Tune in for next weeks article “Why all the hate for the R51” and the follow up article “Top 10 reasons why firearms don’t have to be reliable.”

  6. I’m all for arming tix. But at some point it isn’t about smart guns. The problem is so much stupidity being pushed by so many lunatics.

  7. i have guns 140 years old, they work just like the day they were made, any bets on any of these “smart” guns working ten years from now?

  9. I know stuff. As a Senior Developmental Engineer at an aerospace company (Rhymes with “Huge Air Crash”) my function in life was simple:
    MAKE IT WORK. EVERY TIME!
    I’ve had SIX Apple iPhones. Most mature phone design on the 3rd planet. Not ONE of them could remember my fingerprint for more than two weeks. Most couldn’t go thee days, if they worked st all.
    Leftards DEMAND that I bet my family’s LIVES on crap technology?
    Pound sand, theater-arts idiots.
    If your brain was a book, it would be a cartoon.

    • mmm… graphic novels.
      highly recommend “did you hear what eddie gein done?”

    • If the bluetooth signal between my phone and my headset can be interrupted as I walk past a building, how well would a smart gun work in a similar situation?

    • My iPad remembers my fingerprint perfectly.

      The Pyxis medication dispensing cabinet at work also has no problem remembering my fingerprint.

      The problem with fingerprint technology is not that the machine forgets the fingerprint
      if you are wearing gloves, or if your fingerprint is bloody, or greasy, then the reader will not recognize it

      • No gloves. Maybe I work too hard. My fingers get cuts and all. I’m guessing that could jimmy the sensor a bit, but ALL OF THE iPhones?? Yeesh. Bad design.
        I wouldn’t put that lock on an outhouse door. Certainly not s sidearm.

  11. Why would people send emails when all they had to do is commit? I do not hate the SmartnDumb Gun, I just have no need for it or see a need for it whatsoever. You need a firearm like that you really don’t need a firearm or a motor vehicle, lawnmower, stove, swimming pool, chainsaw, ladder, etc.

    • I’d like to own an actual smart lawnmower. Not one of those Husqvarna wannabee’s that has a cutting pattern like one of the first iRobot roomba vacuum cleaners.

      A smart gun, nope. My luck I’d buy one and possum would aim his neutron gun at it and it would crash and need to reboot before I could use it.

  12. Anything close to the biometric safe I used to own?, would only open after trying multiple times, no and no.

  13. It’s designed and built by humans, therefore one of them will fail. Either it will fire in an unauthorized hand, or fail to fire for its authorized user who will die. More work for lawyers.

    • Or, fire on it’s own, with no intervention. Then we’ll actually have “gun crimes”, instead of criminals (democrats voters) using guns

  14. Personally I have nothing against a company making a go at it and building a smart-gun. however after over 20 years in IT most of that in cybersecurity I’ve lost count of how many systems I’ve seen fail that were sold as rock solid and foolproof.

    if I had unlimited money I might buy one as a range toy or to see how hard it would be to bypass all the fail-safes, but I’d likely never depend on it in a life or death situation.

    Hey if that is the only firearm that someone will consider and it gets them in the game then sure why not, let the company take the risk and lets see what happens.

  15. In general there will always be resistance to new tech. Those plastic pistols are junk, or those ARs are terrible when you could have a nice M14 with a wood stock, right? Technology needs time to mature, we don’t all jump on the marketing bandwagon by those making grand promises. AK, the rifle is fine!

    Plus most smart lockout tech tends to have ties to gun control, or promotion by gun control politicians and media, including early statements by Mr. Kloepfer or media picking up the “high school wiz kid invents smart gun that will prevent gun violence” story.

    BioFire seems to be smartly trying to court the “gun guy” influencers and proclaim their 2A creds, but I guess you can say that gun crowd is rightly wary after NJ laws and all the usual bans from ATF, California, etc, seems like Smart gun locks could end up more of a curse.

    For the sake of transparency, when I searched info for BioFire, Dan Z is on the board for SmartTech foundation for innovation in smart gun tech? That should probably be mentioned in the article.

    • “Technology needs time to mature,…”

      Legislation does not. The issue is not the firearm, or its reliability/usefulness. The issue is the desperate hope that if electronic guns are available for sale, then, and only then, will politicians mandate that all future firearms must be electronic.

      Legislators cannot mandate technology that doesn’t exist, right?

      Right?

    • that explains the six articles already this year on a topic no one ~here~ really cares about.
      one would more than suffice. advancement? let us know.

      • “that explains the six articles already this year on a topic no one ~here~ really cares about.”

        They care very much, and that makes it our problem. ‘Knowing the enemy’ is valid material for TTAG to cover…

        • i concede there is concern amongst the commentors. it’s interesting.
          i think we were caught up five articles ago is all.

    • Yeah. Had a look at that “SmartTech” organization and a lot of their projects are gun control nonsense. Seems like a pretty clear conflict of interest that the author really should be notifying people of.

  16. Why do I oppose smart guns?

    Because it adds a useless point of failure.
    Because it adds needless complexity.
    Because it increases price.
    Because it is an infringement.
    Because putting chips in guns is putting back doors and software in guns.
    Because I want sole and total control of my guns.
    Because I want my guns to work.
    Because I am tech guy.
    Because the only people pushing for smart guns are the people who hate guns and gun ownership.

  18. Well Dan,
    You have this…”They somehow see “smart guns” as a threat to their gun rights and can’t believe that we would stoop so low as running an ad for a product like the Biofire smart gun.”

    Then you have this…”Led by some very big brains like Senator Loretta Weinberg, they enacted a law that mandated that once a smart gun design was marketed to consumers anywhere in the US, all guns sold in the Garden State would have to have the technology.”

    There is your answer.

  19. Hmmm…..if you haven’t noticed Hi-Tech has NOT made life easier; it has made it mores costly, eaten up FREE-TIME, forces you to buy or install upgrades, etc, etc… in addition in malfunctions regularly.

    There is NO PLACE for a possible malfunction other than mechanical in a FIREARM. Also, what if you’re injured and someone else needs to use your firearm. What if it didn’t recognize your fingerprint because of blood in it, etc…

    They’re not SMART guns, they’re UnNecessary Guns; except for in the minds of the ANTI-GUN crowd.

  20. Part of the problem is those states that mandated when a smart gun was available then ALL guns had to be smart guns to be sold in the state.
    At this point…wondering how it can operate safely if user is wearing gloves and/or a mask.
    is there a needle probe into the skin to detect DNA? LOL

    • “At this point…wondering how it can operate safely if user is wearing gloves and/or a mask.”

      Watch them come up with a requirement to have an RF ID chip implanted in your hand to make it work… 🙁

      • “Watch them come up with a requirement to have an RF ID chip implanted in your hand to make it work…”

        Seems I read about that, somewhere.

  21. About 25% of the time my phone won’t unlock using fingerprints or facial recognition. And, of course, the battery always goes low right when I need the phone.

    I’d never buy a smart gun. I don’t need more failure.

  23. They don’t solve any problems.
    In the case of “mutual cultural combat” we know even a crackhead can defeat the locking mechanism. So no solution there

    In the case of DVs the perpetrator owns the gun so presumably has access to the unlocking fob. So no solution there.

    In the case of the mass shooter see above.

    In the case of suicide see above.

    Really, the only two potential scenarios where a smart gun would help are kids in the home assuming both the adult is too negligent and stupid to lock it up and the kid is too stupid to Google how to defeat the lock or the police officer getting his gun taken by some future saint high on fentanyl but we all know the cops won’t be adopting smart guns so that point is moot.

  24. Once a smart gun hits the market some doofus in the government will decide the technology should be imposed on us going forward. ATF anyone?

    And dont act like its just absurd to think that way “in a post Bruen world”. Puhleeze.

    Why are you trying so hard to foist this upon us Dan O ?

  25. I pre-ordered one. Why the heck not? It is a gun, after all. And what happens the first time someone commits one of those infamous mAsS sHoOtiNgS with one? Will the left want to ban smart guns, too? (If the answer to that question isn’t obvious, then you’re no friend of the 2A). Hell, if I told a pearl-clutching leftis, (I repeat myself), that the only gun I owned is a biofire smartgun they’d probably still label me a hyper-conservative MAGA bigot, and I’m literally an ethnic minority, so LOL. But yeah, I will own one of the first biofire pistols and I’m frankly excited about my soon-to-be new night-stand feature or coffee table conversation piece. it’s at worst a soon-to-be antiquated collector’s item akin to a 1st gen iPhone, and yet one more statistical gun purchase that they’ll have to pry from my cold dead hands. Cope harder, anti-tech fudds and pearl-clutching karens.

  26. Smart gunz? Dumb Dims? I just went to a gunshop in Indiana. I was about to buy a used shotgun for 150 bucks. The worker drone looked up that ILLANNOY won’t let us peons have a shottie with a freaking pistol grip. Like a Savage 320 is more deadly with a pistol grip…Dims are idiots. And so are smartgunz!

  27. If the technology is ready for prime time, they should be issued to and required by police departments. Let’s see if they work in real life situations of on duty police work.

    • Or when the Secret Service Presidential Protection detail has them as standard issued equipment.

  28. “More gun owners in America means more people who care about gun rights.”

    The BioFire is an ‘appliance’, focused on ‘home defense where the most frequent defense shot (in over 89% of real life home defense) needs to take place in a time period before the BioFire can ‘unlock’.

    That’s not a gun owner, its an appliance user that hopes their ‘appliance’ will live up to the hype of being a gun in that eye blink moment of time when the trigger pull is needed and not when or after the gun decides to unlock.

    Ya know that thing about ‘they can have my gun when they pry it from my cold dead hand’ ? With the Biofire ya gonna hear about them pried from the cold dead hand of the appliance user.

  29. My entire working life I worked with computer and networking systems, including lots of highly engineered equipment designed not to fail. Electronic equipment will never be as reliable as simple mechanical gear because you are adding a much less reliable layer on top of the necessary mechanical piece.

  30. The smart guns will be ready for prime time when you hear the police on the SWAT team and the Navy Seals complaining that the government is cheaping out, and refusing to spring for smart guns.

  32. So Dan’s asking me why the “hate” for smart guns, presumably because I’m among those who have commented in the past that I don’t care for them. Because a difference of opinion = hate, I suppose. Hmm…I wonder which ideological groups of people use that same logic?

    I couldn’t care less if smart guns enter the market. TEHO. But don’t mandate that it’s my only option – and must be registered to my name – if I want to own a gun.

  33. 1. TTAG is shilling for biofire.
    2.not proven and company is shady.
    3. I don’t even trust my toaster.

    • Haven’t checked myself, but another commenter pointed out that Dan is on the board for SmartTech foundation.

        • Uh, yeah that’s a disclosure that should be made for journalistic ethics. I know that even the MSM doesn’t do that stuff any more because it’s old fashioned but we should have standards.

        • Makes that old Taser ad dressed up as an article (the one where some dingbat said we shouldn’t buy guns for protection because they can get stolen) seem even more suspicious.

        • The fact that he hasn’t responded to these statements from Aaron, Colonel, and Andrew is seriously disappointing.
          Care to comment Dan?

      • another poster did, that’s true. can you point out where in the comments that was, or my response to him? no, no you cannot. this gun is not the only thing around here with a sensor…

  34. I doubt that most people find these things to be a moral affront. It’s more that adding unnecessary points of failure is, wittingly or not, creating points of failure that at absolute best contribute to what amounts to planned obsolescence and a busy service department. At worst they’ll get people killed.

    Just like most automotive maintenance departments attached to a dealership. Outside routine maintenance the most common things they do are re-key fobs and replace electronics. You just don’t see that many thrown rods in comparison to busted sensor control modules.

    They also fly in the face of long standing SOPs, like when you can arm someone else because their gun went down or they showed up to the party unprepared. (See example below).

    In terms of the industry my concern is that if these people are not very, very careful they may open a legal can of worms that does actually get the industry sued by managing to overstate their marketing claims in such a manner that could be construed as fraud.

    And they obviously engage in standard marketing practice. “First Smart Gun Batch Nearly Gone – Order Now(!!)”. Damn, it’s almost sold out? Must be popular as fuck, right? Well, maybe. Or maybe they have five left out of the original six. They don’t exactly tell you “X remaining of Y produced”, do they?

    This isn’t possible with a smart gun:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_STYcZ6YYE0

  35. We hate them not because some gun manufacturer may come out one, we hate them because, like “Pride” clothing for toddlers, we resent having things crammed down our throat.
    And if you think the law won’t be quickly changed to Smart Guns Only, I have a bridge to sell you.

  36. I had one gunm that thought it was smart, it tried to teach all my dumb gunms how to swim.
    That’s why I hate smart gunms.

  38. It’s not reliable. once the battery goes out, how’s it gonna work? it’s not, so Your life is in danger.

  39. No thank you to smart guns, self driving cars, or anything else the government wants to ram down our throats to make it easier to control us.

  40. First off, I don’t hate a piece of equipment. Dislike, yes, work up enough emotion to hate it? Why bother?
    Now, why I dislike smart guns.
    Unproven electronics. chips and circuit boards are delicate. Few designs are capable of the repeated impact of recoil in a handgun. Even fewer are robust and small enough to fit into a workable handgun design.
    Next, who has ultimate control of the chip? Is there any way of breaching the system from outside? If the system relies on biometrics as used in cell phones, or some safes, the history of failures makes me question the reliability. If it uses RFID chips, they can be hacked and overridden.
    Next, Emergency use by unauthorized persons. What happens if the owner is not at home and a child or other person needs the weapon in a defensive situation? We see articles published from time to time where some kid defends their home, family, selves from some sort of criminal attack.
    Lastly, I have weapons that are 200 years old. They still work as designed. My carry weapon is a design well over a century old. Properly stored and maintained, if ammunition is still available or can be manufactured by the owners, those firearms will work in another century.
    Seeing how quickly most electronics fail and have to be repaired or replaced, any bets on how long these weapons will last?
    While I am no survivalist, or prepper, I do have a couple vehicles that will still function, or will be easily repaired in case of a major solar storm, or EMP shuts down most electronics and electrical systems. My old dumb guns will also still work in those circumstances as well.

  41. IN THA YEAR 2525 , IF MANKIND CAN SURVIVE … WHAT NO NEED FOR GUUUNS
    MAYBE SOME DAY IF MORE FRIENDLY TO FIT TO YOUR NEEDS ???
    STRANGE SET UP ONE MORE THING TO GO WRONG ??? …
    MY LAZER WON’T WORK THA THING A GING , BATTERY , OUT OF POWER …AAAAAA

    • My question is of what residual toxicity does an alkaline battery pocess after its storage capacity has been depleted.
      I suppose I could look that up however since I retired I decided I would quit doing stuff that I find inconvenient and if at all possible to use my age as a manipulative factor. That doesn’t work as good as it did when my father was in his old age, young men of any race or color seemed to respect the elderly.
      Not so much today, the young adults of today would rather slam the door shut then open it for you and if it happens to be the wrong young adults there is a great possibility you will be robbed or injured.
      The Wise Man sitting at the top of the mountain Trid knew the answer as the pile of skeletons at the bottom attested to his wisdom.
      America is certainly going to have its share of depleted batteries in the future, mixed right in with mountains of Xhina Brand junk.
      Before we go any further I would like to bring to attention that I’m not knocking the quality of Xhinese junk, as Americas products now, anyway some seem to be, of lesser quality then the imported products.
      “Are we learning anything yet.” ask the child to the robot.
      NTex, I’ve noticed you seem to put a lot of faith in the words written in the Second Amendment.
      I do hope you realize the second amendment only protects your right to protect the Constitution and its beliefs.
      Words on paper may decree however words on paper never marched into battle, the belief in the words, yes.
      It is of my opinion that the American Flag waving Red White and Blue and what it stands for Patriots are of a very, very, small majority and the ranks are thinning.
      .
      btw- Do these fleshtone nylon stretch pants make my Opossum look big? I’m going to Fire Island and ,,, ,,
      God Bless America
      Let’s Go Brandon

      • Unless they have cadmium as the anode they won’t be very acutely toxic, though I think manganese dioxide might build up in people and be bad.

        Either way, dead batteries don’t need to be toxic since their primary functions is choking toddlers and throwing at people with an old school thong style slingshot.

        • *cathode, not anode. Reduction is at the cathode.

          I fucking hated electrochem.

          Also, I don’t think Cd is used in batteries much, if at all, any more.

        • Cadmium the death of many satellites. You can literally watch cadmium crystals growing before your eyes in a vacuum.

      • “My question is of what residual toxicity does an alkaline battery pocess after its storage capacity has been depleted.”

        Possum, that’s a damn good question, ever since I watched a video by a doctor of how *seriously*, badly a little Apple earpod can fuck you up if you swallow one.

        And apparently, going by ER admittance data, swallowing them seems to now be a ‘thing’.

        Bad things like your stomach acid being highly conductive to electricity, and that causing the tiny lithium rechargeable battery to short out. That’s really bad, since when they short out, they get so hot they can catch fire.

        A thermal burn in your stomach, bad…

  43. When Elon Musk took over Tesla years ago with basically a ‘stab in the back coup’ to oust the founder, he promised of course the ‘electric car’ we know today as the Tesla in various models. Almost immediately Musk started touting all sorts of ‘safety’ features and a ‘safety record’. For years it went on that way, with Musk and the company claiming an exceptional, down right unbelievable, safety record due to their (very unfortunately and wrongly named) ‘auto-pilot’ and later their (somewhat) “AI” and hyping the technology.

    For many years the Tesla fan-boys, and ‘expert-journalists-in-the-know’ with thousands of articles, and ‘members of many boards of expertise’ and Musk and Tesla rooted for Musk and Tesla and spent countless hours on line and in public and private extolling the virtues of Tesla and Musk and ‘auto-pilot’ and Tesla technology shouting down anyone else who dared to say otherwise. They used ‘facts and figures’ and dodged in an out of ‘ambiguous’ to make it all seem acceptable and reasonable and ‘common-sense’. Just keep the car charged and be worry free as you zip down the road with ‘auto-pilot’ and sit back and relax, and heck to re-enforce this Musk even had videos games installed one could play on the center console as their ‘hands free auto-pilot’ took you to your destination and he even did interviews showing him driving ‘hands free’.

    And after all who doesn’t want a car with your safety its key attribute, one where you can rely on that Musk and Tesla has your back with ‘auto-pilot’ using its known mature technology and systems? Right?

    There was only one little problem – Tesla controlled all the data upon which, at the core, all these ‘we got your back’ and ‘best safety ever’ and ‘its the drivers fault if something bad happened’ claims were based.

    Now today, years later, due to an insider whistle blower dump of Tesla data in Germany (which Tesla tried to keep from being known in the U.S. MSM ) we find out that, basically, Musk and Tesla were keeping a lot of secrets, and the Tesla fan-boys overall become strangely quiet in relation to their usual Musk and Tesla god-like praise they dished out in tons. And in addition we find out that many ‘test’ or ‘promotional’ videos from Tesla showing how well a Tesla navigates on its own were basically staged and not under real world conditions as they were touted or implied to be.

    Basically it turns out that those safety issues people complained about and were shouted down and explained away by Musk and Tesla and the fan boys and the ‘journalists’ and ‘experts’ as due to ‘driver error’ or some other thing were real after all and not the fault of the driver or road conditions or the many other things Musk and Tesla and the fan boys and the ‘journalists’ and ‘experts’ claimed all these years.

    This is the German page, if you can read German > https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/industrie/elektromobilitaet-mein-autopilot-hat-mich-fast-umgebracht-tesla-files-naehren-zweifel-an-elon-musks-versprechen/29166564.html

    But here are some other links in English explaining > https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/05/massive-trove-of-tesla-files-contains-thousands-of-safety-complaints/ > https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/26/tesla-data-leak-customers-employees-safety-complaints > and there are others, try a Bing or Google search.

    Basically, Tesla spent years using drivers as unknowing lab rats to test its technology and hiding the issues.

    So, one might ask – “Hey .40 cal, what does Tesla have to do with smart guns like BioFire?”

    That’s a good question. The answer is this:

    Tesla used known mature technology, and even created some (well, actually not created mostly but rather adapted to a novel use, like Biofire is adapting the unsuited fingerprint and IR face reader technology), and even the known mature technology, even with Tesla’s ‘AI claims’, could not save lives or prevent injury or accident. Tesla had billions of dollars in funds, billions of dollars in assets and resources, actual engineers and scientists and experts, the most up to date modern day technology to work with – yet, despite having all this technology and innovation and uniqueness could not, and can’t, prevent thousands of issues that can or will threaten life and safety in imperfect imminent situations.

    Sure, there were probably some ‘dangerous’ situations prevented or avoided with Tesla ‘technology’ as the odds just work out that way when the conditions are ‘perfect’ in context with the technology capabilities. But the problem is when the conditions are not ‘perfect’ in context with the technology capabilities, so what happens then?

    What Tesla has indirectly shown, considering the safety issues that turned out to actually be real, is the technology can’t be as or act like a human will or should in that very ‘imperfect’ moment in time when that danger, that threat to life and safety, is imminent and relying on an ‘automated’ technology as a solution is a very bad mistake.

    Compared to the safety issues that are actually real with Tesla’s after all, the human drivers would have made better decisions and had a better chance of avoiding or mitigating had they not been lulled into a false sense of ‘security’ that Tesla’s ‘automation and technology’ was going to be there and have their back when they needed it the most.

    Defensive gun use conditions are rarely perfect and optimum and require human abstract thinking logic to react when its needed to adapt to the imperfect condition in which technology such as a finger print reader and IR face scanner can’t react or react quickly enough.

    And then along comes BioFire, relatively operating on a shoe-string budget, using existing COTS fingerprint scanner and IR face recognition technology that already has inherent ‘flaws’ built adapting it to a ‘novel use’ in a ‘gun’ for defense.

    BioFire and other ‘smart guns’ are like that Tesla, intended to give the impression their ‘technology’ implementation is going to be there for you in that imminent moment when you need it the most, to decide that you are really you, to make the decision for you to ‘unlock’ to fire, as the left-wing and fan-boys cheer it on while you are the lab rat holding an appliance that is not going to unlock fast enough in over 89% of cases of the ‘imperfect’ imminent eye blink moment in time when the trigger needs to be pulled or you or a loved one is gonna die or be seriously injured.

    • ‘The Five’: Oakland residents have had enough of rampant crime (is a BioFire smart gun going to be ready for this, when you are surrounded on all sides no matter where you go? And not to forget that you really can’t carry the BioFire everywhere you go, well, you can but seriously the thing is huge compared to conventional firearms so conceal-ability is going to be an issue. And is the claimed ‘safe’ aspect going to be enough to keep the anti-gun off your case? Plus the laser, red now or even a green laser if planned, is going to be be so anemic – because weapon lasers are big battery drainers – that in bright sun light or even ordinary ‘room level’ light its visibility for quick shots is in question if not real close range range and there is no provision for adding a red dot or a white light.) (basically, Oakland is trying to import more victims).

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLPP_4_Gpnc

    • Seriously, you democrats and anti-gun looking in, yes I know there are some that lurk – Joe Biden, do you seriously want him as president again and ‘leader of the free world’?

      Is your anti-gun agenda based upon mostly lies and half truths and slanted/false information and confirmation bias really so important to you that you are willing to place your self and family and the whole country in peril by having this doddering fool as president?

      I tend to think you would. You’re just that kind of special stupid.

  45. The “hate” is not for any gun, smart or dumb. It, if “hate” is the proper word, is directed at those who constantly attempt to make American citizens subservient to their government, rather than just the opposite as our Founders set forth.

    Just a suggestion, Dan, concerning advertising policies at TTAG: Your claim for how the Biofire ad popped up here sounds a LOT like the excuse the Bud Light people used. Or Target, Michelob, etc. just saying…

  46. I’ve worked in tech for 30 years. Electronic things are the first things to fail in a SHTF situation.

    Complexity is the enemy of reliability. Simple mechanical devices do not benefit from the addition of electronic complexity.

  47. “Smart Gun” – A device marketed to the public that promises safety for the user and those around them.

    “Smart Phone” – A device that allows people to communicate and stay connected to the wider world, offering convenience and safety.

    However, in a democracy, we have seen our government weaponize the “Smart Phone” to track people’s movements, turn on their microphones and cameras, listen and record conversations, text messages, emails, phone calls, plus have data our gathered by corporation s to be sold/stolen to other hostile governments and criminal organizations. Plus governments around the world have demanded “Kill Switches” to shut down and limit communication when their power is threatened.

    Therefore, it is not paranoia to postulate that someday all “Smart Guns” will be fated to immitate the abuse heaped upon the “Smart Phone”.

    No Thanks

  48. Dan, I agree with your premise, that the development of smart guns is just another variant of firearm and should be looked at as such – as long as the anti-gun politicians don’t pass slews of laws limiting to only those smart gun choices. For us standard firearm owners, an article or two here and there for information is OK, but the market for these I don’t think are TTAG readers. I look forward to new gun owners who may see this tech development as an entry point into safe gun ownership and embrace these new gun owners without disparaging them. Increasing gun ownership and safe handling is a good thing to make firearms in common use.

    • Dan has other things to apologize for like not revealing the fact that he is on the BOD’s for a company he is schlepping for. Nice “journalimism” Dan…

  50. I don’t hate smart guns for some of us… you know, like the Secret Service, the IRS, the FBI, the ATF, governmental protection services, or any other jackbooted thug toting guns for the feds… maybe they can program them not to shoot unarmed religious members or dogs inside of a pen…. Unfortunately, it won’t stop them from setting women and children on fire..or shooting women holding infants…

  51. Several have pointed out that we need to look at the real reason behind the push for the Technology, and I agree 100%. The push is not and never has been about “Safety,” it’s always been about Control.
    Do you really trust our Government to have our best interests at heart? Do you really trust our Government to not mandate an ability to “Turn Off” said Technology at their whim?
    Do you think they would Legislate themselves that “Control,” or do you believe as I such Control would be done clandestinely?
    Would you really entrust your life and the lives of your loved ones to a Government that’s already stepped over the line into Tyranny?

    Have you had enough of the “Long Train of Abuses and Ursurpations” yet?

  53. How many of you are reading or posting about this on a smartphone? Or a Computer? Worried about control then why are you posting anything? That phone is traceable in so many ways its not even funny. NFC, Bluetooth, GPS, Wifi and so on. It is not hard to get a cell phone tower data dump…but everyone is SO dependent and comfortable with their phone they are ok with the fact that the government can easily monitor everything they say and do through it as well as where they are at almost anytime.

    I could care less about the existence of a “smart” gun, but I know there are many people that would like one. They are free to spend their money as they choose. The more of this technology that exists the better it will get, and competition NEVER hurts in the process of creating new goods with new features and promises of security. There are already way too many stupid people with guns in my opinion, which makes it even easier to be a better than average gun owner. I have heard from more than a few police officer types that guns are being taken from cars WAY more often these days with so many new and also so many lazy or complacent gun owners. If you are gonna be a stupid gun owner you might as well get a smart gun to help cover up for your mess ups.

    • “…but I know there are many people that would like one.”

      Objection; assuming facts not in evidence.

    • You “could care less about a smart gun”, so you do care a significant amount? Implying that there would a lower level of caring. Or did you actually mean you “couldn’t care less”? Which means that you don’t care any at all.

  54. Wait until a loved one tries to use it and it doesn’t work. Then the survivors sue the crap out of the maker! One thing I’ve learned about technology is that it works, then doesn’t! I wouldn’t risk it with a POS gun so why should I risk it with a “Smart Gun”?

  55. Yeah, Dan..you’re on the advisory board of Smarttech? You didn’t feel the need to mention that? Join whatever group you want, but try to keep the conflict of interest stuff to a minimum.

  56. Someday, there will be a real, reliable, infallible, working ‘Smart Gun’
    A ‘Judge Dredd’ gun.
    But not today.

  57. As usual ‘lots’ of comments – off hand I didn’t see any ‘hate’ filled ones.
    2 brief comments – 1) as I understand the ads, they are for pre-sale. Anyone else remember Elio Motors? 2) the concept of ‘smart’ guns has been around for decades – see the “Weapon Shops of Isher” by A.E. Van Vogt written over 70 years ago.

  58. We found the Biofire stooge & “smart gun” industry lackey and his name is Dan Zimmerman.

  59. “We found the Biofire stooge & “smart gun” industry lackey and his name is Dan Zimmerman.”

    I can think of reasons why we should want a pro-2A representative on the BOD of a company like Biofire.

    And if Dan is paid, and uses that money to keep TTAG viable, we should be appreciative.

    • Seriously Sam? If that were the case he would have had journalistic integrity. Sill waiting Dan…you’ve had two days now and I know you’ve seen our responses. What’s up?

      • “Seriously Sam? ”

        Yes. Not withstanding the “ethics problem”, if we can benefit from Dan’s association, we should be appreciative. This blog would disappear if annual membership fees were initiated.

        As to response from Dan about his association with Biofire, if the lawyers don’t tell him to avoid problems by responding to calls for explanation, he is wise enough to know that he likely cannot physically respond to all the individual calls, and any response will just create a great, unending diversion from managing the blog.

        You know what you know. Engaging with TTAG is not mandatory.

        • Sorry Sam but he could respond to those of us here. I click on the ads here to help support this site. Not the ads with the nasty freaking toenails but the gun ads.
          His silence is cowardice. My opinion take it or leave it. The biggest problem for me is that I have a great deal of respect for those that run this site and I feel this is a betrayal on his part.

  60. Frightened of lawmakers mandating them once they exist.
    Fine with cops having to use them, just hope I don’t need a dead cops gun to defend myself or others.
    If you have kids in the house but want guns laying around for quick access because you don’t want to carry in your pajamas, they may work.

  61. Wow Dan, you just convinced me that TTAG is no longer part of my go to gun sights. I’ve had you as a tab in my browser and checked you every day for 5+ years. And that just changed.

  62. The problem with “Smart” guns isn’t just that they don’t work, and there is no conclusive proof that they do. Biofire’s own demo was a fail, it’s that they set the stage for the foul Liberals to mandate their use. Like EVs, they are expensive and unreliable. I’m not surprised that some places, like TTAG and Recoil Magazine, are sending out emails hyping them, they are after all, in it to make a profit and will sell advertising to anyone. I’m 69 years old, and if my genes hold true to my forbearers, I probably have another 20-30 years left, but I won’t be buying a Smart gun no matter what happens. I’ll rely on the old-fashioned “dumb” guns I already own and trust my own brain and not an electronic one for my defense.

  63. By sheer, cosmic coincidence, right after reading this on my computer, I found I needed to reboot my smartphone in order to make a phone call.

  64. Dan,

    How do I say this politely?? Oh, I really can’t, so I’ll just say it, and you can get offended if you choose to – that may be the single dumbest fucking article I’ve seen on TTAG. Do you know ANYTHING about technology, precision manufacturing, engineering, or firearms design? Do you know what “points of failure” are?? Do you know the engineering concept (similar to Occam’s Razor in philosophy) that “the simpler the design, the better”?

    In what universe, exactly, is a more expensive, more failure-prone, more complex firearm anything but a bad idea???? And what if I have a friend at my house, who doesn’t visit frequently (and so isn’t “programmed” into my “smart” gun), and I am incapacitated, and there is a home invader.

    Jeebus, dude, that article read like it was written by dacian the demented or MajorLiar. Do better, next time. Seriously, that was the dumbest s*** I’ve read on here in quite a while.

    • I wish I had a counter argument Lamp but…

      Seriously Dan just one simple mea culpa or do your lawyers rule you?

  65. https://www.pewpewtactical.com/weekly-wrap-pistol-brace-amnesty-ends-biofire-nj-commission/
    “BIOFIRE SAYS IT WON’T SUBMIT SMART GUN TO NJ COMMISSION

    A new smart gun company says it won’t submit its design to a New Jersey state commission that could use it to tighten gun laws.

    Biofire Technologies, who launched the Biofire Smart Gun early this year, says it won’t send the gun to the New Jersey Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission.

    The commission, established in 2019, sets performance standards for “personalized handguns” in the state and also keeps a roster of smart guns allowed to be sold within its borders.”

  66. @muckraker
    “His silence is cowardice.”

    What we may be seeing is the transition from a paying hobby, to an actual official business; lawyers and accountants rule businesses.

    Going on faith, vs. fact, I speculate that Dan recognizes the business risks of getting into spitting matches with detractors. But, on a different note, the site is free (so far), and we lose nothing by deciding to abandon TTAG over the perceived betrayal. All it takes to settle the hash with Dan is to declare “ungood belly feel”, and never access TTAG again.

  67. There are many good arguments offerred and dsputed here but the fact remains that only people harboring a fear of firearms would be the proposed consumers of “smart” guns. That would mean that advertising for smart gun sales would also be targeted towards that audience. Could you imagine the uproar if smart guns were advertised for sale in say… Ladies Home Journal or People magazines (do they still exist?) ? Maybe on the Disney channel or one of the home impronement type offerings? I can imagine the torches and pitch forks crowd would make “The Insurrection” look like recess. Personally I don’t see how these smart guns are any better than all of the other smart technology that is screwing up today.

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