Time to Pull the Trigger on Smart-Gun Technology in Michigan?

If a handgun that is “smart” enough to prevent anyone other than the registered owner from firing it were widely available, would you purchase it for personal protection?

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and the American Association of Suicidology support the emerging technology and say it should improve safety and lower suicide rates, The Springfield (MO) News-Leader reports in a story widely distributed by the Associated Press.

But a powerful opponent, the National Rifle Association, is opposing it.

The NRA’s opposition apparently stems from a 2002 New Jersey law that would require all handguns sold in the state to incorporate the technology within three years of it becoming available. The law requires the New Jersey attorney general to determine if the smart-gun technology is reliable and all it’s billed to be, but such guns must come to the market before that determination can be made.

And that’s the hitch, says Donald Sebastian, senior vice president for the New Jersey Institute of Technology who has been researching smart-gun technology for 15 years. The NRA argues the New Jersey mandate weakens Second Amendment rights and has successfully used its lobbying power to stop development.

“The mandate in the law has become an impediment and we can’t get out of this endless loop,” Sebastian said. “For 15 years this debate has been going on.”

Attempts have been made to bring the technology to market. In California, the NRA mounted pressure and the Oak Tree Gun Club in California abandoned plans to sell the Armatix iP1 smart gun. A Maryland gun dealer followed suit after a day of death threats and protests, The Washington Post reports.

Gun violence claims the lives of 33 Americans a day, Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand for Gun Sense in America, wrote in a guest opinion piece published by USA Today. Her group, which recently merged with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, is frustrated by strong-arm tactics.

“Unfortunately, the gun lobby has stood in the way of progress in personalization technology, claiming that it infringes on the rights of gun owners,” she wrote. “ We cannot allow a few extreme voices to stand in the way of a technology that could save lives and in no way infringes on Second Amendment rights. As a country, we must do everything in our power and use all the tools at our disposal to help treat this out-of-control epidemic.”

In Detroit, approximately 500 children died in homicides since 2000 – most of them gun-related – in what has been described as “a culture of normalcy,” The Detroit News reported in January.

» Tell Us: Would you support a law in Michigan, similar to one passed in New Jersey in 2002, that would require smart-gun technology on all handguns sold in the state once that technology is available and certified as reliable? Take our poll and tell us what you think in the comments.

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PHOTO: Two gun dealers that have attempted to market the Armatix iP1 smart gun have backed away after heavy pressure from the National Rifle Association and other gun lobby groups. (Photo: Armatixx iP1)