Gun Absolutists Shoot Down Safety Ideas

Columnist Joe Nocera posed an interesting question: “why can’t we come up with a technology that would keep a gun from going off when held by a child? Or, for that matter, by a thief using a stolen gun? Or an angry teenager who is plotting to use his parents’ arsenal to wreak havoc in a mall.” (New York Times, 3/22/13)

Nocera continues. “It turns out – why is this not a surprise? – that such technologies already exist. A German company, Armatix, will soon be marketing a pistol that uses radio frequencies that prevent a gun from being used by anyone except its owner.”

Tell me, what’s faster than a speeding bullet? The response time of gun absolutists to criticize any gun safety proposal no matter how trivial that they believe interferes with the totally unrestricted use of firearms. In this case, they criticize a product that hasn’t even been placed on the market yet. How do they know the Armatix pistol won’t work? Are they psychics?

The absolutists argue that “personalized guns” (those only the owner can fire) might malfunction in a time of need. Of course, most any gun can jam (and thank God that Adam Lanza’s gun jammed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, preventing him from slaughtering even more children.)

Nocera’s column produced a number of responses from his readers. The conventional suggestions for safeguarding guns from children are gun locks, locked cabinets, or storage in a safe.

Reader Johndrake07 from New York City commented, “A trigger lock prevents a gun from firing. Cheap and easy to use – but some owners don’t use them – even if they have small children around.”

Humans make mistakes. They sometimes forget to lock triggers and cabinets or to put firearms in a safe. Certainly, Adam Lanza had little difficulty gaining access to his mother’s arsenal of firearms before he shot her.

And then, as always, there are politicians who feel that their re-election is more important than the safety and well being of their constituents. Jimbo writes from Seattle, “I am a former member of the NRA and was a fan of hunting upland game (pheasants and quail), a great excuse for being outside on a golden Autumn day.”

“When hunting was done for the day, guns were unloaded until the next event. A bill was proposed in Congress that all gun sales would come with a trigger lock, a simple low tech device that required a key to remove. I thought it was a great idea. Wayne LaPierre and the NRA killed it. That is the time I left the NRA forever. Not every member of the NRA is a lunatic, but their leadership is.”

But there are responsible gun owners who take the issue of safety very seriously and go much further than just safety locks. DJStuCrew of Roseville, Mchigan wrote, “I recently bought a Bersa pistol that is loaded with safeties! First, it has the usual safety that must be clicked off in order to fire. It also has a magazine disconnect, so the gun won’t fire if the magazine is removed, even if there’s a round in the chamber. Lastly, there’s a key lock. It is discreet – doesn’t look like a normal key – and unless you know what you’re looking at, you’d never guess why your pistol isn’t firing.”

But, then, if you can’t get gun owners to use simple safety locks all the time, what chance is there that they will rush to buy a particular gun simply because it’s loaded with safety features? Not much. About as likely as getting drivers to buy Volvos because they are safe automobiles.

And so until Armatix perfects its gun personalization techniques to the satisfaction of gun absolutists (nothing will ever satisfy them), it looks as if we’re stuck with the problem of guns reaching the hands of children, thieves, and madmen. And there’s a price to be paid.

Diana Moses of Arlington, Massachusetts, writes, “I remember hearing how when a bridge is being constructed, a certain number of fatalities among the workers building it could be predicted. I feel that those who are against gun safety regulations are basically deciding that they are willing to sacrifice these numbers of children knowingly, as a cost they’ve decided is tolerable to them in order for them to have what they want – easy access to guns. I don’t see the costs as tolerable, and I don’t think the Second Amendment requires child sacrifice.”

Amen, Diana. Amen.