Minuteman Monthly Issue 14 September 2001 Thank you for registering as a recipient of the Minuteman Monthly, which is the monthly newsletter for www.savetheguns.com Please send this newsletter to your gun owning friends and family. Also send our Web address to your gun club officers. Does your gun club utilize pin-on buttons for their members? If so, I can make bulk pin-on buttons for as low as .40 cents each. Please help support www.savetheguns.com with a button order, bumper sticker, t-shirt or contribution. www.savetheguns.com/buy_my_stuff.htm ***************************************** Savetheguns.com Quote Of The Month "Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes." - Thomas Jefferson ***************************************** Savetheguns.com Safety Tip Of The Month NEVER TAKE A GUN AWAY FROM SOMEONE BY PULLING ON THE BARREL. If they have their finger on the trigger, pulling on the barrel could discharge the gun and injure you. A common way that firearm accidents happen, especially among children, is when one person tries to disarm another without concern for the where the barrel is pointing. There is natural tendency to position the index finger on the trigger. If the firearm is grabbed by the barrel and yanked toward oneself, the forward movement of the gun, with the index finger on the trigger will, of course, discharge the cartridge. It is not a good idea to try to disarm someone, without proper training in weapons retention techniques. If you ever find yourself in the very rare situation where you must disarm someone, the primary concern, would of course be to control the direction of the barrel, while gaining control over the firearm. ***************************************** This Month's Article The September Minuteman Monthly will focus on what has become to be known as "Smart Gun" technology, what it is and what the future may hold. In 1994 the National Institute of Justice funded a project known as the "Smart Gun Technology Project". This project was originally intended to decrease the chances of a Law Enforcement Officer having his service firearm feloniously wrested away from him and then used on him. In 1979 and in 1981, 19 police officers were killed with their own firearms. Happily, this total has steadily decreased since then. During most of the 1990's, an average of six (6) police officers were killed with their own firearms and there was four (4) of these tragedies in 1996, which is the latest stats I have. The project's goal was to identify a technology that would prevent a firearm from functioning in the hands of an unauthorized user, in order to help protect an officer from being shot with his own gun. Generally there were three (3) areas that the project looked at: Automatic Identification Biometric identification Miscellaneous Devices Automatic Identification was generally an electronic device that allows the gun to fire when it receives a code that is transmitted from a separate device such as a ring or watchband. Biometric Identification explored the possibility of a firearm recognizing some identifying human factor, such as a fingerprint or speech pattern, which the gun would recognize as belonging to its owner. Miscellaneous generally included non-electrical devices that would only allow the rightful owner to fire, such as a combination lock, pin code or some such device. ***************************************** One of the best and least expensive ways you can help www.savetheguns.com is by slapping a bumper sticker on your car or truck. I will be adding bumper stickers as soon as I am sure I have enough funds to stay online for a few more months. The stickers are $2.25 each plus 60 cents shipping per order. Please feel free to send me your pennies, I'll roll them myself. www.savetheguns.com/bumper_stickers.htm ***************************************** Where Are We Now? In its 1996 report to the National institute of Justice, the project managers concluded that "...there is no perfect technology..." that will meet all the officer's requirements. The top four (4) contenders were all radio frequency transmitting devices, that will not work near strong electro-magnetic currents, will fail if the batteries are not frequently replaced or if the officer forgets the ring or watchband that accompanies the device. The project also concluded that "It may take a generation of smart gun systems to come and go before a smart gun is not only common, but is favored over a non-smart gun..." To accomplish this goal, a great deal of time and resources will have to be expended for the smart gun application". World-renown gun manufacturer, Beretta issued a conclusive statement on "Smart Gun technology" saying: "Although the concept of a "smart gun" or "personalized gun" has received public attention recently, we believe that careful consideration has not been given to potentially dangerous risks associated with these concepts. In our opinion, such technology is undeveloped and unproven. In addition, Beretta strongly believes that "smart gun" technology or "personalized" guns (hereinafter also referred to as "smart gun" technology) could actually increase the number of fatal accidents involving handguns. The fact that "smart gun" technology was developed for law enforcement use is significant because it is designed for a situation where the owner of the gun has a gun within their [sic] control and intends that it be loaded. Beretta has grave concerns about the suitability of such a device for home use for the simple reason that civilian owners of such guns, who would not currently do so, might believe that their weapon is now childproof and could leave their guns loaded and accessible to children, trusting the "smart gun" feature to prevent an accident. The idea of a "smart gun" has appeal to the unwary and has been promoted by gun control advocates who have no technical understanding of firearms design nor, apparently, of the risks inherent in their proposals. Beretta trusts that politicians and voters who consider this issue carefully and objectively will agree that such devices should not be required in handguns." ****************************************** Read the complete Smart Gun Technology report right here. Please copy and paste the entire address into your browser's address field. You will need a program like Adobe Acrobat to read the .pdf file. The file is quite long. http://www.prod.sandia.gov/cgi-bin/techlib/access-control.pl/1996/9611 31.pdf ****************************************** Once this technology has been perfected, the cost of such devices will be prohibitive, in most cases, nearly doubling the cost of quality handguns, putting the cost of new handguns out of the reach of the average working family. This of course is just fine with the anti-gun establishment. The Brady Center (formally known as Handgun Control Inc.) knows full well that if they can get a mandate for "Smart Guns" for the public, they can then concentrate their tirades on getting rid of the "non-smart" technology guns. In their zeal for this technology, anti-gun groups often exaggerate firearm accident statistics to accomplish their goals. The reality is that because of education and proper training, accidental deaths have decreased 88% in the United States since 1903 and a whopping 75% decrease since 1975. We have seen a massive decrease without "smart guns". ****************************************** In Conclusion I think there is a future for "smart guns", but it is clearly in the future. The technology does not exist in a current form that I would deem as reliable enough to stake my life and the lives of my family upon. For government agencies, state legislatures, anti-gun groups or Attorneys General to advocate that smart gun technology be required now is foolhardy and reckless. Smart guns are something that holds promise for law enforcement officers of the future. Although there are quite a few officers that swear by the magna-trigger technology. Visit the Magna-Trigger people here: http://www.tarnhelm.com/ Private American Citizens might not be interested in smart guns and many people see smart guns as guns that could actually cause more accidental shootings, because people would be tempted to ignore basic gun safety rules and leave loaded firearms out for young children to get a hold of. Therefore, it is the position of www.savetheguns.com, that smart guns, should never be required for private use. ********************************************** Please forward, print, copy, fax, scan, mail and post this newsletter anywhere you wish. Please also consider a contribution to help keep us online through Spring 2002. Thank you for registering as a Minuteman Monthly Newsletter Recipient. ________________________ If you don't want this newsletter anymore, just send me an E-mail with "Unsubscribe MMM" in the subject line to: info@savetheguns.com Thanks, Marc Owner/Founder www.savetheguns.com