So, apparently the United States government has released official guidelines for smart guns. Which is pretty swell since more safety features to make sure guns only work with their owners are great. But, there’s a little concern that came up in this article (emphasis mine):
“Also like the draft, most of the guidelines are about what smart gun security features can’t do — impair operation or increase time needed to draw, holster or fire the weapon. If a firearm’s security features are malfunctioning, they also need to default to unlocking the weapon.”
While I get what they’re going for, since knowing your gun is going to fire when you need it is great, this seems like it kind of defeats the purpose of having the new safety features put in place. If all it takes to override them is to damage a sensor or remove a battery, is it really that much safer? Taking care of your firearm in order to make sure it doesn’t misfire is already common practice, so why should taking care of smart parts be any different?