Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

“Smart Guns,” Dumb Policy

Monday, July 24, 2023

“Smart Guns,” Dumb Policy

In 2002, Democrat lawmakers in New Jersey passed a first-of-its-kind bill to restrict the handguns that could be sold at retail in that state to “smart guns” (called “personalized guns” in the bill). The law would take effect once the state’s attorney general determined that “at least one manufacturer had delivered at least one production model of a personalized handgun to a registered or licensed wholesale or retail dealer” anywhere in the country. Among other things, the attorney general was required to set standards, determine whether a handgun met the statutory definition of “personalized handgun,” and compile a list of qualifying guns which could be sold in the state. (Manufacturers seeking to have a gun approved would have to provide a handgun for testing, pay an application fee, and pay the costs associated with testing the gun to ensure it was a “personalized handgun.”) Wholesale and retail gun dealers would be prohibited from importing into and offering for sale any handgun that wasn’t a “personalized handgun,” but this did not apply to handguns sold or transferred to law enforcement officials in New Jersey.

Not much happened until 2014, when the attorney general determined that the Armatix iP1 handgun, which relies on an RFID-enabled wristwatch, did not meet the statutory definition of a “personalized handgun” because, “as a matter of design, the pistol may be fired by a person who is not an authorized or recognized user” as long as the wristwatch was within range.

By 2019, in a tacit recognition of abject failure, almost all of the 2002 law was repealed and replaced with a different “smart gun” mandate. This authorized a special commission that, within a year of organizing, was to develop “personalized handgun performance standards and qualifying criteria,” examine applications by manufacturers, and ultimately create a roster of approved handguns. Within 60 days of the first personalized handgun appearing on the roster, every licensed firearms retail dealer in the state would be compelled to maintain in inventory one or more models of these state-approved guns, “conspicuously” display them, and post signage “disclosing the features of personalized handguns that are not offered by traditional handguns.”

This scheme, too, is having a challenging launch –even the gun control website The Trace admits that “it’s unclear if a controversial state law requiring gun stores to carry smart guns will finally take effect.”

It wasn’t until 2022 that the commission began meeting, and this month, New Jersey’s attorney general announced that the commission had finally completed the initial phase of establishing standards and criteria, which he called a “milestone” in “gun safety.” Out of the commission’s nine minimal requirements, three are copied right out of the 2019 statute, and only five arguably address performance. The handgun must be “reasonably resistant” to being fired by anyone other than the authorized user. The “personalized technology” has to be a “permanent, irremovable part of the handgun and any device or object necessary for the authorized user to fire the handgun.” Another standard appears to eliminate any possibility of mechanical wear-and-tear, requiring that the handgun “not physically deform or deteriorate as a result of firing rounds.”

As the commission moves on to the next phase of designing protocols for testing possible models and creating an application process for manufacturers and others, the question is, will anyone be interested?

Kai Kloepfer, the CEO of Biofire, a technology company working on a new “smart gun,” has indicated he has no intention of submitting his gun to the commission for testing and approval. “We do not support mandates of any kind. We’re looking to build positive long-term relationships with gun stores and forcing these additional administrative burdens doesn’t incentivize them to support our technology; it does the opposite.”

Indeed, the fallout of the 2002 law was that it triggered a furious backlash by the gun community, which maintained – and continues to maintain – that market forces should be allowed to operate normally, without government mandates that use smart guns as the pathway to making traditional firearms illegal. The sponsor of the 2002 law acknowledges that instead of incentivizing research and development of “smart gun” technology, her law accomplished “the exact opposite of what we really intended to do.”    

Consumers have other legitimate reasons to be wary of “smart gun” technology. An NRA review of the Armatix iP1, as tested at a range, showed that even with a trained user, the “pistol initially required a full 20 minutes to pair with the watch” and still then needed “a minimum of seven push-button commands and a duration of 12 seconds before the gun can be fired.” Misfires were “common” and the gun had “the worst double-action trigger we’ve ever tested.” And why was the gun equipped with “kill switch” functionality that would allow it to be disabled by third parties? The review concluded that the “NRA only opposes the imposition of technologies via government force, and is happy for the marketplace to pass its own judgment. But if this is the technology upon which smart-gun proponents want the marketplace to base its decision, their rejection will be both swift and brutal.”

It should come as no surprise that none of these real-world reliability issues are addressed in the commission’s new performance standards. Only a gun control jurisdiction like New Jersey would applaud its own mandate that retailers stock guns that don’t work and that gun owners won’t buy as an important step towards saving lives and improving public safety.

TRENDING NOW
First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

California officials’ egregious foot-dragging over the issuance of carry permits has finally attracted the ire of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). 

California: Governor Newsom Signs Gun Control Bills Into Law

Monday, October 13, 2025

California: Governor Newsom Signs Gun Control Bills Into Law

For someone who has claimed to be"...deeply mindful and respectful of the Second Amendment and people’s Constitutional rights,” Governor Gavin Newsom has once again proven that actions speak louder than words.

Firearm Prohibition Advocates Mute on Jay Jones “Two Bullets to the Head” Scandal

News  

Monday, October 13, 2025

Firearm Prohibition Advocates Mute on Jay Jones “Two Bullets to the Head” Scandal

Democrat Jay Jones, candidate for Virginia attorney general, still has not suspended his campaign, even as pressure mounts over disclosures that should disqualify, to put it mildly, any individual from serving as the chief law ...

NRA Files Another Lawsuit Challenging the National Firearms Act

Thursday, October 9, 2025

NRA Files Another Lawsuit Challenging the National Firearms Act

Today, the National Rifle Association—along with the American Suppressor Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, and Second Amendment Foundation—announced the filing of another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA).

FBI Persists in Underreporting Armed Citizen Defensive Gun Use

News  

Monday, October 13, 2025

FBI Persists in Underreporting Armed Citizen Defensive Gun Use

Three years ago, Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), writing for RealClearInvestigations, described how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was vastly undercounting, “by an order of more than three the number of instances in ...

Rehearing En Banc Sought in NRA-Supported Challenge to New Jersey’s Carry Restrictions

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Rehearing En Banc Sought in NRA-Supported Challenge to New Jersey’s Carry Restrictions

Today, the National Rifle Association announced the filing of a petition for rehearing en banc in Siegel v. Platkin, a challenge to New Jersey’s carry restrictions.

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

US Virgin Islands: Sweeping Gun Control Measures Advance

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

US Virgin Islands: Sweeping Gun Control Measures Advance

The 36th Legislature of the US Virgin Islands is continuing to advance sweeping gun control measures through the legislative process.

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Ban on Firearms Possession by Nonviolent Felons

Thursday, October 9, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Ban on Firearms Possession by Nonviolent Felons

Today, the National Rifle Association, along with the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and FPC Action Foundation, filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the federal lifetime prohibition on ...

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

Last Monday, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce published a final rule that reversed a crackdown on the commercial export of firearms from the U.S. to other countries.

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.