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http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37724-2000Mar18.html
By Lorraine Adams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 19, 2000; Page A03
On one side have been gun manufacturers, on the other, gun control groups. For decades, it has seemed a polarized, intractable universe--seemingly impervious to the dark procession of gun tragedies on the nightly news.
As of Friday, there may be a third way, essentially based on technology. Its premise is that so-called smart-gun design--manufacturing firearms so that they can only be fired by their owners--can fundamentally change the culture of guns in this country.
If the technology can be made to work, the proponents of this approach argue, there will be a reduction in the approximately 1,200 teen suicides annually. There will be fewer than the 200 instances a year of small children getting their hands on guns that lead to death. There should be fewer stolen weapons used in crimes.
That third way is emerging as a result of the federal government-negotiated agreement signed Friday by the nation's largest handgun manufacturer, Smith & Wesson, although some members of the gun issue orthodoxies are already disparaging it roundly.
In Europe and elsewhere, weapons have been banned. In the United States, such an approach is unworkable. But personalized guns, an idea that has been developing underneath the main currents of the gun debate since the early 1990s, and most recently has been seized by Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D), may be where the nation is headed.
"It is a way to rise above the polarization," said Andrea Camp at the Institute for Civil Society. "I think the recent killings--from Columbine a year ago to that six-year-old last week--have been a catalyst for people searching for another way. The smart-gun technology, it's still not there yet. But what happened yesterday shows that manufacturers and policymakers are really understanding that the future of a solution on guns is going to have to center around gun design."
The agreement provides for Smith & Wesson within the next 60 days to begin selling guns with external trigger locking devices; within the next 12 months to design handguns so they cannot be "readily operated" by a child younger than 6; and within 36 months to include "authorized user technology," such as fingerprint activation, in all new firearms models, except certain curios and collector types.
Yesterday, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo announced a second phase, ordering the nation's 3,200 public housing authorities to give preference in their gun purchases to gunmakers that adopt the provisions to which Smith & Wesson had agreed. He was joined by mayors from Detroit, Miami-Dade County and Atlanta, who will call on their local governments to give the same preference in their purchases for law enforcement.
The federal government became involved in December, when President Clinton threatened to join 28 local governments suing gun manufacturers. The administration was considering suing for the cost of firearm violence in public housing projects, several of which have been taken over by HUD.
Cuomo said yesterday that negotiations with other manufacturers are underway. "You never had a manufacturer who said any of this was an option," he said. "That was the key with Smith & Wesson stepping forward."
There are many critics of the agreement, on both sides. Gun manufacturers say that the smart technology does not work, and may never work. Gun control advocates say the agreement is filled with loopholes; doesn't require Smith & Wesson to do anything it wasn't already doing; doesn't make a dent in regulating the most dangerous, lightweight, highly concealable, high-caliber guns; and doesn't address the 220 million existing guns.
"Yes, some of these things we were already doing, but we weren't getting credit for them," said Ken Jorgensen, a Smith & Wesson spokesman. "The point is to tell the world what we are doing and will be doing."
There already have been patent fights over designs that would use electronic or magnetic devices to disable a gun unless it is used by an "authorized" person. And no one has developed a device that is workable in a gun, according to manufacturers.
Smith & Wesson is working on two different technologies. In one, the user punches a combination into a keypad. The other uses a fingerprint scanner, said Jorgensen. The company has spent $5 million on research and has applied for a $3 million government grant.
"Nothing exists today that works," said Jorgensen. "We're a minimum of two to three years down the road from anything workable."
Many gun owners have said that they would not want a smart gun because it would take so much time to get it ready to shoot that it would be useless for self-defense. Many believe that illicit gun dealers would figure out ways to disassemble the firearm and bypass the safety features. "There would be a huge marketplace to sell conversion kits to disable such a device," said one former gunmaker.
Law enforcement officials have expressed their own worries. Some versions of smart-gun technology use an electronic transponder in the gun that communicates with a device on an officer's wrist. Many officers are killed with their own weapon, after the gun is wrestled away by an assailant. In close contact, the transponder might not be deactivated and the criminal might still be able fire at the officer.
Gunmaker Beretta U.S.A. Corp. has voiced concerns about the fingerprint version, in which a trigger would not fire until the owner's print has registered: What about a gloved hand? Doesn't exact placement of the finger on the trigger during a life-threatening confrontation seem onerous?
Kristen Rand, director of federal policy at the Violence Policy Center, said her anti-gun organization opposes smart guns because "we think ultimately their effect would be to sell more guns."
But supporters see the agreement differently. They say that some form of smart technology already works, and that Smith & Wesson's acceptance of the agreement is an acknowledgment that more sophisticated forms someday will work as well. They say an estimated 500,000 weapons are stolen every year, and that smart technology would render stolen guns useless to the thieves. They say not all of the 30,000 handgun-related deaths annually will be addressed by smart guns, but that the worst ones--involving teen suicides and very small children--will. They say that there will be pressure on Smith & Wesson, having broken with the industry, to lobby legislatively for changes so that it can compete equally with other manufacturers.
"Even if the others don't go along, there is a substantial incentive that the new rules that Smith & Wesson is abiding by are made universal to end whatever competitive disadvantage they may have incurred," said Dennis Henigan, director of the Legal Action Project at the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.
Some believe that even if major gunmakers agree to make smart guns, the fragmented gun industry would still include small operators who would make cheap, "dumb" guns. But Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California at Davis, said those small companies are already going out of business. Wintemute, who dubbed them the Ring of Fire manufacturers, said, "They are defendants in a great number of the city lawsuits, and they don't have the cash on hand to defend themselves."
Finally, the naysayers are not aware of recent developments, say the agreement's supporters. "The technology exists," said Stephen Teret, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore. "There are high-tech and low-tech ways. The low-tech ways include putting in a device that is a little keypad that requires the owner to enter a PIN. . . . SIG Arms [Inc.] in midsummer will start marketing such a gun that is already tested and works."
The higher end is fingerprint-activated guns. This is a couple of years away, Teret said, but "there already are fingerprint-reading technologies in other products. The trick about having them be in guns" is that "the computer chips have to be made durable enough to withstand repeated firing."
DEVELOPING SMART GUNS
Here are four examples of smart-gun technology that manufacturers are trying to develop:
Mechanical combination lock
Manufacturer: Saf T Lock
Attached to gun: Mounted on inside of the grip of a revolver or built into the base of am-munition magazine in a pistol.
How it locks: Blocks the operation of the internal components.
To disengage lock: User enters a four-digit code and turns the manual safety knob.
Currently available. The grip lock costs $69.95; the magazine-mounted lock costs $89.95.
Electromechanical lock
Manufacturer: SIG Arms
Attached to gun: Built into the frame in front of the trigger.
How it locks: A small motor near the keypad locks the trigger system and slide of the gun.
The lock has four modes:
* Unlock/Ready mode.
* Locked/secure mode.
* 1-hour time delay locked/secure mode.
* 8-hour time delay locked/secure mode.
To disengage lock: The user types in a personalized four-digit code.
Magnetic lock
Manufacturer: Fulton Arms
Attached to gun: Magnetic lock
is installed in handle.
How it locks: The magnet holds in place a blocking device inside the grip panel.
To disengage lock: The owner wears a ring with an opposing magnet that pulls the blocking device away and reconnects the firing mechanism. The ring must be within half an inch of the gun, and the gun will respond only to a magnet of that strength.
Fingerprint recognition
Manufacturer:
Smith & Wesson
Attached to gun: Fingerprint authorization block fits in handle.
How it locks: An electronic circuit is disabled, preventing the gun from firing, unless the magazine is inserted.
To disengage lock: The user holds the gun in one hand and allows the scanner to read the thumbprint on the opposite hand. The user can then remove the lock and insert the magazine. The magazine completes the circuit so the weapon can fire.
SOURCES: Colt's Manufacturing, Fulton Arms, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, Saf T Lok, SIG Arms, Smart:LInks, Smith & Wesson
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
By Lorraine Adams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 19, 2000; Page A03
On one side have been gun manufacturers, on the other, gun control groups. For decades, it has seemed a polarized, intractable universe--seemingly impervious to the dark procession of gun tragedies on the nightly news.
As of Friday, there may be a third way, essentially based on technology. Its premise is that so-called smart-gun design--manufacturing firearms so that they can only be fired by their owners--can fundamentally change the culture of guns in this country.
If the technology can be made to work, the proponents of this approach argue, there will be a reduction in the approximately 1,200 teen suicides annually. There will be fewer than the 200 instances a year of small children getting their hands on guns that lead to death. There should be fewer stolen weapons used in crimes.
That third way is emerging as a result of the federal government-negotiated agreement signed Friday by the nation's largest handgun manufacturer, Smith & Wesson, although some members of the gun issue orthodoxies are already disparaging it roundly.
In Europe and elsewhere, weapons have been banned. In the United States, such an approach is unworkable. But personalized guns, an idea that has been developing underneath the main currents of the gun debate since the early 1990s, and most recently has been seized by Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D), may be where the nation is headed.
"It is a way to rise above the polarization," said Andrea Camp at the Institute for Civil Society. "I think the recent killings--from Columbine a year ago to that six-year-old last week--have been a catalyst for people searching for another way. The smart-gun technology, it's still not there yet. But what happened yesterday shows that manufacturers and policymakers are really understanding that the future of a solution on guns is going to have to center around gun design."
The agreement provides for Smith & Wesson within the next 60 days to begin selling guns with external trigger locking devices; within the next 12 months to design handguns so they cannot be "readily operated" by a child younger than 6; and within 36 months to include "authorized user technology," such as fingerprint activation, in all new firearms models, except certain curios and collector types.
Yesterday, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo announced a second phase, ordering the nation's 3,200 public housing authorities to give preference in their gun purchases to gunmakers that adopt the provisions to which Smith & Wesson had agreed. He was joined by mayors from Detroit, Miami-Dade County and Atlanta, who will call on their local governments to give the same preference in their purchases for law enforcement.
The federal government became involved in December, when President Clinton threatened to join 28 local governments suing gun manufacturers. The administration was considering suing for the cost of firearm violence in public housing projects, several of which have been taken over by HUD.
Cuomo said yesterday that negotiations with other manufacturers are underway. "You never had a manufacturer who said any of this was an option," he said. "That was the key with Smith & Wesson stepping forward."
There are many critics of the agreement, on both sides. Gun manufacturers say that the smart technology does not work, and may never work. Gun control advocates say the agreement is filled with loopholes; doesn't require Smith & Wesson to do anything it wasn't already doing; doesn't make a dent in regulating the most dangerous, lightweight, highly concealable, high-caliber guns; and doesn't address the 220 million existing guns.
"Yes, some of these things we were already doing, but we weren't getting credit for them," said Ken Jorgensen, a Smith & Wesson spokesman. "The point is to tell the world what we are doing and will be doing."
There already have been patent fights over designs that would use electronic or magnetic devices to disable a gun unless it is used by an "authorized" person. And no one has developed a device that is workable in a gun, according to manufacturers.
Smith & Wesson is working on two different technologies. In one, the user punches a combination into a keypad. The other uses a fingerprint scanner, said Jorgensen. The company has spent $5 million on research and has applied for a $3 million government grant.
"Nothing exists today that works," said Jorgensen. "We're a minimum of two to three years down the road from anything workable."
Many gun owners have said that they would not want a smart gun because it would take so much time to get it ready to shoot that it would be useless for self-defense. Many believe that illicit gun dealers would figure out ways to disassemble the firearm and bypass the safety features. "There would be a huge marketplace to sell conversion kits to disable such a device," said one former gunmaker.
Law enforcement officials have expressed their own worries. Some versions of smart-gun technology use an electronic transponder in the gun that communicates with a device on an officer's wrist. Many officers are killed with their own weapon, after the gun is wrestled away by an assailant. In close contact, the transponder might not be deactivated and the criminal might still be able fire at the officer.
Gunmaker Beretta U.S.A. Corp. has voiced concerns about the fingerprint version, in which a trigger would not fire until the owner's print has registered: What about a gloved hand? Doesn't exact placement of the finger on the trigger during a life-threatening confrontation seem onerous?
Kristen Rand, director of federal policy at the Violence Policy Center, said her anti-gun organization opposes smart guns because "we think ultimately their effect would be to sell more guns."
But supporters see the agreement differently. They say that some form of smart technology already works, and that Smith & Wesson's acceptance of the agreement is an acknowledgment that more sophisticated forms someday will work as well. They say an estimated 500,000 weapons are stolen every year, and that smart technology would render stolen guns useless to the thieves. They say not all of the 30,000 handgun-related deaths annually will be addressed by smart guns, but that the worst ones--involving teen suicides and very small children--will. They say that there will be pressure on Smith & Wesson, having broken with the industry, to lobby legislatively for changes so that it can compete equally with other manufacturers.
"Even if the others don't go along, there is a substantial incentive that the new rules that Smith & Wesson is abiding by are made universal to end whatever competitive disadvantage they may have incurred," said Dennis Henigan, director of the Legal Action Project at the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.
Some believe that even if major gunmakers agree to make smart guns, the fragmented gun industry would still include small operators who would make cheap, "dumb" guns. But Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California at Davis, said those small companies are already going out of business. Wintemute, who dubbed them the Ring of Fire manufacturers, said, "They are defendants in a great number of the city lawsuits, and they don't have the cash on hand to defend themselves."
Finally, the naysayers are not aware of recent developments, say the agreement's supporters. "The technology exists," said Stephen Teret, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore. "There are high-tech and low-tech ways. The low-tech ways include putting in a device that is a little keypad that requires the owner to enter a PIN. . . . SIG Arms [Inc.] in midsummer will start marketing such a gun that is already tested and works."
The higher end is fingerprint-activated guns. This is a couple of years away, Teret said, but "there already are fingerprint-reading technologies in other products. The trick about having them be in guns" is that "the computer chips have to be made durable enough to withstand repeated firing."
DEVELOPING SMART GUNS
Here are four examples of smart-gun technology that manufacturers are trying to develop:
Mechanical combination lock
Manufacturer: Saf T Lock
Attached to gun: Mounted on inside of the grip of a revolver or built into the base of am-munition magazine in a pistol.
How it locks: Blocks the operation of the internal components.
To disengage lock: User enters a four-digit code and turns the manual safety knob.
Currently available. The grip lock costs $69.95; the magazine-mounted lock costs $89.95.
Electromechanical lock
Manufacturer: SIG Arms
Attached to gun: Built into the frame in front of the trigger.
How it locks: A small motor near the keypad locks the trigger system and slide of the gun.
The lock has four modes:
* Unlock/Ready mode.
* Locked/secure mode.
* 1-hour time delay locked/secure mode.
* 8-hour time delay locked/secure mode.
To disengage lock: The user types in a personalized four-digit code.
Magnetic lock
Manufacturer: Fulton Arms
Attached to gun: Magnetic lock
is installed in handle.
How it locks: The magnet holds in place a blocking device inside the grip panel.
To disengage lock: The owner wears a ring with an opposing magnet that pulls the blocking device away and reconnects the firing mechanism. The ring must be within half an inch of the gun, and the gun will respond only to a magnet of that strength.
Fingerprint recognition
Manufacturer:
Smith & Wesson
Attached to gun: Fingerprint authorization block fits in handle.
How it locks: An electronic circuit is disabled, preventing the gun from firing, unless the magazine is inserted.
To disengage lock: The user holds the gun in one hand and allows the scanner to read the thumbprint on the opposite hand. The user can then remove the lock and insert the magazine. The magazine completes the circuit so the weapon can fire.
SOURCES: Colt's Manufacturing, Fulton Arms, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, Saf T Lok, SIG Arms, Smart:LInks, Smith & Wesson
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
