Smart guns hit the market

BY DYLAN SIMARD KUNC

At rst glance, the Bio re Smart Gun is di erent from other rearms. e large handgun looks part Halo, part Cyberpunk in design.

It’s an appropriate look since the gun is made with new technology ripped straight from science ction. It’s unlocked biometrically, meaning it can only be activated with an authorized user’s ngerprint or face. at, in turn, means only authorized users can shoot it.

Kai Kloepfer is the CEO of the Broom eld-based company Bio re. He said making a gun like this was impossible until very recently.

“A lot of the technology we’re using did not exist two years ago, in most cases,” Kloepfer said.

Kloepfer began thinking about the smart gun in high school. He grew up in Colorado and remembers the 2012 Aurora theater mass shooting, where 12 were killed. He brought an early design to an international science fair and won rst place. More than a decade later his plastic prototype has evolved into a fully functional handgun.

“I’ve gotten a chance to be shooting it, handling it. Even got to take one home for a little bit. It’s just been really cool to see something that I only dreamed of like 11 years ago,” Kloepfer said.

Experts say putting a computer into a gun is a remarkable feat—a gun’s explosive force once made it unthinkable. But beyond the computer, the gun is unremarkable in its function. Bio re’s smart gun is a semiautomatic 9mm handgun, meaning a user can pull the trigger, a round goes downrange, and a new round is fed into the chamber. It functions exactly like any other handgun of its class and caliber— and that’s by design.

It takes an expert like Bryan Rogers, the lead designer at Bio re, to bring the gun to commercial production. He said the secret to making a reliable smart gun is to enable more than one way to unlock it.

“It uses both ngerprint and facial recognition to recognize you as the owner,” Rogers said.” It’s either/or— whichever one it gets rst.” e gun uses a portable dock with a small screen attached to both charge the gun and edit its user permissions. e battery life is considerable—with a full charge, it will be ready to shoot as many as 6 months later.

So, a gun that can only be shot by its designated owner is now available for purchase—but does that mean it’s any safer than other guns? ere’s evidence that the presence of guns makes a home more dangerous. Having a gun in the home leads to a fourfold increase in the risk of suicide, according to a study from Stanford University.

Eileen McCarron, president of the gun violence prevention organization Colorado Cease re, said this rearm is an improvement—but there are still no safe guns.

“ e safest thing you can do for your family is to not have a gun,” McCarron said.

But this research didn’t look at smart guns, and it will likely be years before there is enough data to know if a smart gun is a safer alternative to a traditional gun.

McCarron remains concerned about the mental states of those in possession of smart guns.

“ ere’s still the issue of suicide for the person who is identi able by the machine,” McCarron said of smart guns’ user-recognition technology. e rearms industry has been closely watching the development of smart guns. Mark Oliva, a spokesperson for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said the new technology does have some people concerned.

“We’ve never been opposed to authorized user technology, or smart guns. What we oppose are mandates on that technology,” Oliva said.

Some Second Amendment advocates are afraid this technology might one day be mandatory for all guns. ere’s no evidence of that yet, though it has been a focus within some state legislatures. New Jersey passed a law requiring stores to carry smart guns once they become available, but Bio re CEO Kai Kloepfer has said he wouldn’t submit the gun for the state’s review – specically to avoid triggering the law.

Overall, the stakes are high for this smart gun from Bio re—and for all smart guns to come. Steve Wolf, a rearms expert in Boulder, is a plainti ’s expert witness in a case against Alec Baldwin, after the actor was involved in an accidental rearm-involved death on the set of the lm Rust. Wolf believes Bio re is taking a risk.

“If even one or two cases get out where it’s found that someone was unable to protect themselves because the gun didn’t recognize them... I think that’s going to kill the movement for a long time,” Wolf said. e Bio re smart gun doesn’t just prevent unauthorized users inside of the home from using the gun—it also prevents use by strangers.

Hundreds of thousands of guns are stolen each year in the United States, and many are used in violent crimes. Wolf said the smart gun might put a dent in that.

“It would diminish the ability of criminals to use the gun,” Wolf said. For his part, Wolf hopes Bio re succeeds.

“Everyone wants to see gun safety improved,” Wolf said. “And if this is a step that gets us closer to that, more power to them.” is KUNC story via e Associated Press’ Storyshare, of which Colorado Community Media is a member.

Bio re isn’t having any trouble selling out right now, even though the rst guns won’t ship until the end of the year. But whether the technology is here to stay is still anyone’s guess. Firearms history is littered with technology that never caught on—but that history is also lled with innovations that changed the world.