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Gun safety is, perhaps, a place where a lot of people on this list
could potentially agree on this debate (at least to some degree).
I think using RFID chips to enable guns to fire is just asking for
a mis-fire or non-fire of the gun just when you need it most,
though. If we want to child-proof anything, I'd suggest
child-proofing gun cases. I'd like to find some incentive to
ensure that people are storing their guns properly, but the only
things I can think of that would help is more safety training and
laws that affect the gun owner if a death occurs as a result of a
firearm discharging accidentally. I'm open to suggestions.<br>
<br>
I took a quick look at the statistics for gun accidents, since the
article only describes them as having "new examples almost every
day". According to the CDC, in 2010 (under "Nontransport
accidents"), "Accidental discharge of firearms" accounted for 606
deaths. I haven't found a breakdown by child/adult, but I'll keep
looking. The only other age-related statistic I have found so far
is that there were 0 infant mortality deaths due to gun accidents.<br>
<br>
In case you're curious, here is the number of deaths for each
non-transport accident type, from the "2010 Mortality Multiple
Cause Micro Data Files" PDF
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/deaths_2010_release.pdf">http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/deaths_2010_release.pdf</a>):<br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New, Courier, monospace">Falls
26,009<br>
Accidental discharge of firearms 606<br>
Accidental drowning 3,782<br>
Accidental exposure to fire 2,782<br>
Accidental poisoning 33,041<br>
Other unspecified 16,678<br>
Total 82,898<br>
<br>
<font face="sans-serif">Firearm accidents are the smallest
number in that list, but that doesn't mean we couldn't do more
to reduce that number. What I'd like to know is why
accidental poisoning is so high. More than 54 times as many
deaths by accidental poisoning as by accidental discharge of
firearms. Looking into it, I see it consists mainly of drug
causes (91%), including prescription pain killers, cocaine,
and heroin at the top of the list.<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
<br>
</font></font><br>
On 03/23/2013 05:36 AM, Art Deco wrote:<br>
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<blockquote
cite="mid:CAB8VJX5K9C+bjWd1-RaBRyKmzRurxJkGLCKOVaMu7MDKkbdJeQ@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
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<div class="">
<div class=""> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/"><img moz-do-not-send="true"
src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/nytlogo153x23.gif"
alt="The New York Times" border="0" hspace="0"
vspace="0" align="left"></a> </div>
<div class=""> </div>
</div>
<br clear="all">
<hr size="1" align="left">
<div class="">March 22, 2013</div>
<h1>Saving Children From Guns</h1>
<h6 class="">By <span><span>JOE NOCERA</span></span></h6>
<div id="articleBody">
<p>
For nearly two months, my assistant, <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.jennifermascia.com/">Jennifer Mascia</a>,
and I have been publishing <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://nocera.blogs.nytimes.com/category/gun-report/">a
daily blog</a> in which we aggregate articles about
shootings from the previous day. Of all the stories we link
to, the ones I find hardest to read are those about young
children who accidentally shoot themselves or another child.
They just break my heart. Yet Jennifer and I find <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.google.com/search?q=child+shoots&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=child+shoots&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=xgX&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&psj=1&ei=m-xMUYWkAdSp4AOFzYDYCg&ved=0CA0Q_AUoBA&fp=1&biw=1730&bih=774&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&cad=b&sei=KPZMUeOdKafE4APM9IHgCw">new
examples almost every day</a>. </p>
<p>
Partly, I react by thinking, “How can anyone be so stupid as
to leave a loaded gun within reach of a small child?” But I
also have another reaction. In 1970, Congress passed a law
that resulted in childproofing medicine bottles. The
Consumer Product Safety Commission regulates the paint used
in children’s toys. State laws mandate that young children
be required to use car seats. </p>
<p>
So why can’t we childproof guns? In an age of technological
wizardry — not to mention a time of deep sensitivity to the
welfare of children — why can’t we come up with a technology
that would keep a gun from going off when it is being 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? </p>
<p>
It turns out — why is this not a surprise? — that such
technologies already exist. A German company, Armartix, will
soon be marketing <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.gizmag.com/armatrix-wristwatch-safety-system-for-handguns/14044/">a
pistol that uses radio frequencies</a> that prevent a gun
from being used by anyone except its owner. At the New
Jersey Institute of Technology, the senior vice president
for research and development, Donald Sebastian, has long
spearheaded an effort to develop biometrics for “gun
personalization,” as it’s called. Guns employing this
technology fire only when they recognize the hand of the
owner. There are others who have invented similar
technologies. </p>
<p>
Why aren’t <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-shuster/smart-gun-technology_b_2324978.html">these
lifesaving technologies</a> in widespread use? No surprise
here, either: The usual irrational opposition from the
National Rifle Association and gun absolutists, who claim,
absurdly, that a gun that only can be fired by its owner
somehow violates the Second Amendment. Pro-gun bloggers were
furious when they saw James Bond, in “Skyfall,” proudly
showing off <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/11/skyfall_someone_should_make_james_bond_s_biometric_walther_ppk_s_gun.html">his
new biometrically protected weapon</a>. They were
convinced it was a Hollywood plot to undermine their rights.
</p>
<p>
Yet there is reason for at least some hope that the day when
these technologies are in widespread use will soon be here.
Last week, there were two important meetings about gun
personalization technology. On March 13, in Washington,
Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. met with several dozen
advocates, including Sebastian and Stephen Teret, the
co-director of the Center for Law and the Public Health at
Johns Hopkins University. The purpose of the meeting was to
get Holder up to speed on the technologies so he could make
recommendations to President Obama. </p>
<p>
The following day, in San Francisco, <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.sandyhookpromise.org/">Sandy Hook Promise</a>,
an organization founded by citizens of Newtown, Conn., <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://newtownbee.com/news/news/0001/11/30/sandy-hook-promise-launches-innovation-initiative/10397">publicly
launched</a> its “innovation initiative” in collaboration
with some Silicon Valley venture capitalists and
entrepreneurs. One of the leaders in the effort is the
venture capitalist Ron Conway, who coincidentally threw a
Christmas party on the day of the Newtown massacre.
Gabrielle Giffords was among those who attended. Like so
many others, Conway decided he had to do something about
guns after Newtown. </p>
<p>
The innovation initiative, which will make grants, and even
award prize money for good ideas, includes an emphasis on
gun personalization technology. A member of the group, <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.lagunabeachindependent.com/2012/07/26/guest-column-mirror-america/">Alan
Boinus</a>, who applied for a patent on a biometric
technology back in 1994, has founded a company, Allied
Biometrics, that is devoted to commercializing biometric gun
technology. He has already begun a collaboration with
Sebastian in New Jersey. </p>
<p>
In classic Silicon Valley fashion, Boinus told me that the
government has been hopeless, and that innovation and the
market itself would solve the problem. “The market will
prove this out,” he said. “People want to be responsible.
People want safety.” </p>
<p>
I agree with him that Congress has been hopeless and then
some, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/03/19/feinstein-assault-weapons-ban-reid-senate-bill/2000119/">unable
to even work up the courage</a> to vote on an assault
weapons ban for fear of offending gun owners. But I’m not
convinced that the market alone can create mass acceptance
of this technology. It took years, after all, for Congress
to overcome the car industry’s resistance to air bags,
ultimately requiring a law that made air bags mandatory. </p>
<p>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/12/gun_death_tally_every_american_gun_death_since_newtown_sandy_hook_shooting.html">Thousands
of lives</a> could be saved each year if gun
personalization technology became the law of the land. In
mid-April, Representative John Tierney, a Massachusetts
Democrat, plans to introduce a House bill requiring that all
guns include personalization technology within two years. </p>
<p>
Congress once cared enough about the safety of its citizens
to pass laws about air bags and childproof bottles. We’ll
soon find out if it still cares enough about the safety of
its constituents to make childproofing guns the law of the
land. It should. </p>
<div class="">
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-- <br>
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br>
<br>
<img moz-do-not-send="true"
src="http://users.moscow.com/waf/WP%20Fox%2001.jpg"><br>
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