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We need to have some smart guns first. After that you have the problem of millions of old tech guns in circulation. Some of that will go away through attrition. But the best way is to do the same thing that was done with, say, air conditioners. You can't buy ammo. If the new smart guns are chambered slightly differently than the old guns and only new ammo is made then eventually everyone is forced to change over or pay outrageous prices for dwindling supplies of ammunition. You basically render the old guns obsolete and unusable.
We need to have some smart guns first. After that you have the problem of millions of old tech guns in circulation. Some of that will go away through attrition. But the best way is to do the same thing that was done with, say, air conditioners. You can't buy ammo. If the new smart guns are chambered slightly differently than the old guns and only new ammo is made then eventually everyone is forced to change over or pay outrageous prices for dwindling supplies of ammunition. You basically render the old guns obsolete and unusable.
Here is what I don't get. You make the argument of a bright eye'd idealist of all the possibilities and capabilities of man to be able to create this wonderful solution you purpose, but then... you complete disregard the fact that the same can be used to circumvent your solution.
Do you know any good gunsmiths? I know some that can make a quality firearm from scratch. Heck, if you watch those how to shows, and gun shows, there are people out there who make a living off modifying weapons, ammo and refurbishing old weapons that no longer have parts available.
All you will end up with is a bunch of really expensive pieces of junk that Joe Hillbilly gun enthusiast and his techie son are going to work around, bypass, or scrap the whole thing and make their own.
Sorry, thought you were talking about "alternate fuel sources" as those as an example are not currently practical.
Look, as I have said, there is nothing wrong with striving for better technology, but as I said, if it can be built it can be modified and circumvented. This is shown over and over throughout our technology in history. Now I am open to the possibility of what you "believe", but we aren't talking about flying cars and teleporters, we are talking about practical solutions that are within our grasps currently.
Your expectation is not currently obtainable. Now as I said, you are welcome to go invent it to prove me wrong, but the fact remains that it is not practical right now. You are being idealistic and it has no place in practical discussions.
It is both technologically attainable and practical (we will always have the problem of foiling the spoilers). The problem is it is not marketable. We have to generate demand for such guns. It could be by fiat - like emissions rules - or by a fascination with the technology like TVs and BluRay etc, ad infinitum. Or both. Another, bigger problem is that the market is not large enough. Even if we replaced every gun in the US it would not be enough demand. It would have to have a global market like cellular devices and no other country on earth would want to risk the introduction of a gun problem like we have in the US.
True. I know someone who built a lower for an AK-47 from a shovel blade. There are a lot of gun hobbiests who love showing off their home-made firearms.
It is both technologically attainable and practical (we will always have the problem of foiling the spoilers). The problem is it is not marketable. We have to generate demand for such guns. It could be by fiat - like emissions rules - or by a fascination with the technology like TVs and BluRay etc, ad infinitum. Or both. Another, bigger problem is that the market is not large enough. Even if we replaced every gun in the US it would not be enough demand. It would have to have a global market like cellular devices and no other country on earth would want to risk the introduction of a gun problem like we have in the US.
No, that is what you are claiming. Like I said, make one and we will talk.
Sorry, not interested in your draconian government schemes to dictate to the markets. If your idea can't survive on its own merit, it is because your idea is garbage.
I wouldn't call 1/4 of 1 percent occurrence a problem. It doesn't even fall into the line of statistically significant. Not to mention, the occurrences vary greatly depending on many aspects, which implies that the problem is not guns, but something else.
Its nice they have ideas, but the fact is, while these are good suggestions for "encouraged" safety and prevention features (heck, the gun crowd is constantly coming up with different types of these features), I would have to side with that poster in terms of "mandated" features. These won't solve problems because the problem never was the guns in the first place. As long as we keep blaming the tools, we will never figure out what the real problem is.
Obviously it's not a gun problem, but it's worth listening to their reasoning and suggestions. The intent here is good (reduce gun violence), we just have to work out a solution that, you know, works.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wutitiz
Eventually I can see this becoming reality. Probably not via fingerprints, but some other method. Once it is sufficiently reliable, people will want it. It eliminates the scenario of getting shot with your own gun after it has been snatched. It also frees you from the worry of potential liability if your gun is stolen.
Read through the thread, Wutitz, it doesn't. Anything electronic can be hacked, anything mechanical can be bypassed. Most electronic items have manufacturer lockout controls so that if you can't get in, the manufacturer can. Even if that means sending the circuit board back to the manufacturer for programming, it means it can be done.
If it can't be done, it'll be done. If you have to rebuild the entire biometrics circuit board or short-circuit a connection, it'll happen. Hackers like challenges.
Quote:
As for the concerns about electronics, it wasn't that long ago when electronic sights on self-defense guns were frowned upon due to concerns about reliability. Now red dot and other elec. sights are commonly used even by the military. Recently I read that some of the gurus are even putting electronic sights on carry pistols. Some refer to them as "window guns." More Red Dots On Handguns - M4Carbine.net Forums
Yes, but when the battery dies on a Tijicon's ACOG sights, they often have a mechanical backup (fiber-optics) or hashmarks in the lens. If the sight suddenly went black and you couldn't see out of it, nobody would buy them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ponderosa
Electronic fuel injection is impractical? Fly by wire is impossible? A car can't parallel park itself. I remember a conversation not that many years back with a radio "expert" who argued with me when I gave a presentation where I claimed there would be a day when internet would come over cell phones. Impossible, he said. I can't begin to tell you all the practical reasons he gave that that would never happen. There is comfort (and profit) in living in the old ways for some, but the future belongs to the visionaries.
Fly-by-wire is supported by redundant hydraulic and mechanical linkages, sometimes two or three times over. Any good electronic device will have mechanical backup systems in the event of failure. My damned optical drive on my computer has a mechanical ejection switch.
Obviously you have a problem when your gun--needed for life saving purposes, fails to operate as expected because the spark generator failed to ignore the bullet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ponderosa
We need to have some smart guns first. After that you have the problem of millions of old tech guns in circulation. Some of that will go away through attrition. But the best way is to do the same thing that was done with, say, air conditioners. You can't buy ammo. If the new smart guns are chambered slightly differently than the old guns and only new ammo is made then eventually everyone is forced to change over or pay outrageous prices for dwindling supplies of ammunition. You basically render the old guns obsolete and unusable.
You'll just have an even larger cottage industry of home-made manufacturers, not to mention you'd have to enforce commercial manufacturers to stop making ammo for old firearms.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nomander
Here is what I don't get. You make the argument of a bright eye'd idealist of all the possibilities and capabilities of man to be able to create this wonderful solution you purpose, but then... you complete disregard the fact that the same can be used to circumvent your solution.
Do you know any good gunsmiths? I know some that can make a quality firearm from scratch. Heck, if you watch those how to shows, and gun shows, there are people out there who make a living off modifying weapons, ammo and refurbishing old weapons that no longer have parts available.
All you will end up with is a bunch of really expensive pieces of junk that Joe Hillbilly gun enthusiast and his techie son are going to work around, bypass, or scrap the whole thing and make their own.
Last edited by Konraden; 12-20-2012 at 03:07 PM..
Reason: Formatting
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