Chris Hayes of MSNBC did a piece a couple weeks ago about the smart gun; a handgun that only operates when in proximity to a specialty watch that is linked electronically to the weapon. The idea is that children wouldn't accidentally find the weapon and kill themselves or someone else but there is also great demand within the police forces who want a weapon that can't be taken forcefully from an officer and then turned back onto them. Considering the great challenges out country is facing over gun deaths this is a modest step in the right direction but far from a panacea to all our problems.
What is interesting about this story is that the technology already exists, there is a smart gun that is ready to go on the market and there have been at least two distributors who have tried to sell it. Before they could sell any, however, they were bullied and pressured by gun rights groups to stop. This seems strange, right? Why would gun rights groups oppose the sale of any gun, even one that has arguably "liberal" safety features? Well, it turns out that they fear that once a smart gun goes on the market, this will lead to laws mandating that all gun sales be smart guns and that this could potentially lead to some sort of registry of gun owners.
It turns out this isn't just fantasy conservative fear mongering. In 2002 New Jersey passed a smart gun law, saying that once a smart gun was available for sale anywhere in the country that New Jersey would only sell smart guns within 3 years. This means that had either of the attempted distributors of the smart gun been successful then NJ would only sell smart guns beginning in 2017. Here is where it gets interesting. Chris Hayes had NJ State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg on to talk about that smart gun law that she sponsored over a decade ago. She made an offer to work to repeal that law on condition that the NRA and the Gun Owners of America and other gun rights groups stopped working to prevent the manufacture and distribution of smart guns. Sounds like a pretty good deal right? NJ repeals the smart gun law, gun rights groups stop depressing the smart gun supply and America gets a safer weapon available on the open market competing against traditional guns.
Alright, even this liberal gun control advocate can see what a joke of an offer this is. Let's begin by assuming that Rep. Weinberg is capable of getting this law repealed in NJ (as the Senate Majority Leader she probably could). The more important question is; what is to keep her from re-passing the same law once the smart gun goes onto the market? Well New Jersey has a Republican Governor so that might not happen so easily, but what about Massachusetts or Washington State or any of the other deep blue states with Democratic leadership? Representative Weinberg clearly has no sway or control over what those legislatures do. It is foolish to think that Democratic leaders in safely blue districts and states would not want to make all gun sales smart gun sales.
This all begs the question, what happens next? Well, in my estimation, pretty much nothing. Gun control advocates won't seriously consider repealing this hard fought for law. Gun rights groups will continue to fight the development and distribution of this technology for the foreseeable future. Children will continue to die needlessly because of unsecured firearms. What I can't understand is why some gun control group doesn't just start selling this gun. Are you listening Bloomberg? Sell this gun and you will have achieved a major step towards greater gun control. Not only will a smart gun be available on the market (probably not the ideal situation but better than the status quo) but in NJ at least, all gun sales will have to be smart guns within three years. When it comes to developing the smart gun market the NJ law has really been an obstacle. It has provided the ammunition that the gun rights groups need to claim that their rights are being restricted. It appears to me, that NJ State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and the other Democrats who passed this law really jumped the gun.
No comments:
Post a Comment