In law, products which are manufactured and sold to the public are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). A manufacturer who sells goods which fall below the expected safety standard can be prosecuted; each company has a ‘duty of care’ to avoid committing the ‘tort of negligence’. Basically, manufacturers must take reasonable care to ensure their product is made according to safety standards; if they don’t, they are liable to be sued. Guns and ammunition are exempt from the jurisdiction of the CPSC, but Teret, and many others, believe this law should be overhauled, and the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which gives gun dealers and manufacturers protection from tort liability, should be repealed. This was discussed in article at the Daily Kos :
Under standard product liability law, manufacturers are liable for defect in the design and construction of their products. Tort liability provides a powerful means by which concerned individuals or groups can gain leverage against much wealthier business interests. It is not necessary to win a suit to achieve a change in corporate business and behavior. Often, the threat of lawsuits alone provide a powerful financial incentive to an industry to make its products safer, and reduce the risks associated with the use of their products. Additionally, the liability process can force manufacturers to release internal documents regarding the known risks associated with product use – as occurred with dramatic effect with suits brought against the tobacco industry. The liability process can also create poor publicity for an industry or manufacturer. In broadly restricting civil suits against the gun industry, the federal government took away a potent tool by which consumers can lobby for their safety and well-being.
If it could be shown that smart guns were ‘safer’ than dumb guns, then “…litigation against gun makers for their failure to provide technologically feasible, inexpensive safety devices ”, would force them all to fit the devices to the guns, because not fitting them would be classed as negligent.
One of the ways personalized weapons are said to be ‘safer’ is because they could prevent someone firing a gun that did not belong to them. Teret and Vernick , et al, have conducted studies which they claim to prove smart guns could prevent many unintentional deaths. If a safer alternative is available, but is not incorporated into the product, the manufacturers can be held liable in cases where a smart gun could be argued to have prevented a crime or a tragedy (such as a child firing his parent’s gun).
The issue is largely a question of foreseeability – whether or not it would have been possible to anticipate such unintended use of the product. This ties in with how the gun is stored. There are said to be “three distinct risks of negligent firearm storage: accidental shootings, adolescent suicides and the criminal misuse of stolen guns.”
Teret began his speech at the gun policy summit with the highly emotive story of a four year old child shooting his baby brother in the head while he slept in his crib. Teret notes such an incident can be classed as ‘foreseeable’; changing the design of the gun, he says, would prevent it from happening. This would then be regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Moves in this direction have also come from Representative Adam Schiff , a Democrat from California, who last week announced legislation he would like to see enacted: the Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act would “… ensure that the victims of gun violence are allowed to have their day in court and that the gun industry … is not shielded from liability when it acts with negligence and disregard for public safety.”
In an interview at TheAtlantic.com , Schiff said,
I have discussed this and other priorities with the House Task Force on Gun Violence, led by Rep. Mike Thompson and submitted this proposal to the Vice President’s working group. My legislation is just one piece of the larger conversation we’re having on how to reduce gun violence in this country, but it is an important piece and I look forward to gathering support and moving forward. We’ve already had a great response from Members and outside groups, like the Brady Campaign and the American Bar Association, who are interested in this issue.
According to the 2008 report, ‘Regulating Guns in America ’, by the Legal Community Against Violence, locking devices can be any device which prevents a gun being fired by the wrong user, and can be either external to the gun, such as a gun safe, or integrated into the design, such as a personalized trigger lock. The report notes,
Locking devices themselves, however, are not exempt, and therefore the CSPC has the ability to adopt national safety standards for locking devices.
Conclusion
The Alton Consulting Group , LLC, a consultancy firm for small businesses, published an overview of the issues faced by a start-up looking to expand production of smart guns as part of a business plan, and noted police officers were unlikely to want to be microchipped like “the family pet”.
But the proposals to bring in technology such as that offered by TriggerSmart are only one of many applications involving implants. I have written about these applications in some of my previous articles . The key issue is identification – needed for smart guns, online commerce, health services, and payment systems. All of which could lead to microchip implants.
Even the problem with battery life has been resolved: NASA has developed an RF Telemetry “implantable biomicroelectromechanical” system, known as ‘bio-MEMS ’, which can both transmit and receive data, via a miniature inductor/antenna; the bio-MEMS are electromagnetically coupled “with a remote powering/receiving device ”, so they don’t need batteries, as they are charged when they are being used.
Journalists have begun to report on a new portable device for police officers which scans people for concealed weapons. “The device …. is small enough to be placed in a police vehicle or stationed at a street corner” as a way of searching for illegal firearms. The NYPD is about to begin testing the device, “which reads terahertz radiation – the natural energy emitted by people and inanimate objects – and allows police to view concealed weapons from a distance.”
There’s even a start up challenge for someone to develop a 3D-printable smart gun !
Notes:SOFEX weapons exhibition, none of which were ‘safe’!tasers which are claimed to ‘save lives’.
The ONE Group has made a Private Equity Offering:
TriggerSmart installed in a GSG5 – viable, patented, RFID based childproof semi-automatic rimfire rifle. Can only be used with the associated RFID ring, allowing parents, officials and others reassurance that only they can use their weapon. As featured in the New York Times and Fox News.
This article first appeared at Get Mind Smart
Julie Beal is a UK-based independent researcher who has been studying the globalist agenda for more than 20 years. Please visit her website, Get Mind Smart , for a wide range of information about Agenda 21, Communitarianism, Ethics, Bioscience, and much more.
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