I have long followed every abortive attempt to develop “smart guns,” handguns that can only be fired by a designated user. Early attempts used magnetic locks, requiring rings on both hands. Obviously, anyone with a magnet could fire such guns, and gloves interfered.

Various other methods, including radio transmitters, have also failed. Among the more recent was the Armatix iP1, a .22LR caliber pistol with a watch/transmitter.  Back in 2015 the handgun cost $1400 and the watch, $300. Imagine what that would be with today’s inflation. It was rapidly revealed the transmitter could be spoofed with Radio Shack parts costing a pittance, and the German company that made the gun/watch quickly went bankrupt.

Col. Jeff Cooper said double action semiautomatic pistol actions were “an ingenious solution to a nonexistent problem.” Smart guns are an equally ingenious solution in search of a problem. They were originally marketed for police use, ostensibly to prevent officers from being shot with their own handguns, something that does occasionally happen. Unfortunately for smart gun makers, no technology has been sufficiently capable and reliable, and there are easily imaginable circumstances that would require fellow officers to be able to shoot each other’s handguns. The police have universally rejected every such invention. There may be a lesson there for everyone.

In more recent years, marketing has focused on child safety in the home. While this concern can’t be rejected out of hand, it has been seized upon by anti-liberty/gun cracktivists who want to ban every gun, and failing that, mandate smart guns so expensive and unreliable they amount to defacto bans.

Now, the next big thing in smart gun technology is here:

Graphic: Youtube screenshot

The Biofire Smart Gun features built-in fingerprint and infrared facial recognition technology that only permits use by "authorized" individuals, according to the company.

Biofire has called it the "first and only biometric firearm on the market."

The gun is a full-sized 9mm, striker-fired semiautomatic pistol. It features magazine sizes of 10 and a double-stacked 15-round magazine. It has a 4.7-inch barrel and a total of 8.7 inches in length. The total weight of the gun, unloaded, is 2.4 pounds. 

And all this for only $1499, including a case and the recharging dock. This is a large and heavy handgun, about what a 1911 .45 weighs, though the Biofire is bulkier.  It’s not easily concealed. A Glock 17, not a standard police duty handgun, weighs 22.05 oz unloaded, and currently retails for about $550.00. Finding holsters for the Biofire would be, to put it mildly, difficult.

Graphic: Youtube screenshot

Neither the article, nor Biofire’s website clearly explain whether the fingerprint and infrared features are separate or must work together.  Obviously, gloves, dirty hands, or dirt on the gun would render the fingerprint feature useless, which is a problem with all such technology. We have no idea about the range or effectiveness of the infrared feature. Its sensor/reader appears to be embedded in the rear of the slide, which is the only place it could be placed to read one’s face. Does it work only if the handgun is held up,before the face within a limited range of view? Do glasses, darkness, rain and snow or other impediments defeat that feature? What if one is forced to shoot from the hip? Obviously, it’s a battery powered device. Promotional materials suggest it has “months” of battery power, but we have no idea what that means. As with all such designs, when battery power runs out, the gun won’t shoot. There is no manual override. How does cold effect it? Immersion in water? How rugged are the computer and other components?

Handguns are useful primarly because they are sufficiently small, light weight, and powerful to be easily carried. This is particularly true of the current generation of concealed carry handguns like the Glock 43X or the Sig P365. All are easily concealed, accurate, and have ten round or more magazine capacity. Most importantly, they’re reliable. They fire when the trigger is pulled, and don’t rely on batteries or other technologies.

Rational Americans don’t object to smart guns. They object to smart gun mandates that amount to defacto bans. They object to anyone that would obliterate the Second Amendment using smart guns as their tool. Is the Biofire a viable alternative to non-electronic handguns? If so, it will succeed where all before it have failed. Will anti-liberty/gun cracktivists seize on it, writing unconstitutional laws that prohibit the sale of anything else? We can count on that.

It remains to be seen whether a gun about three times the cost of a Glock, whose reliability is unknown, for which holsters are all but nonexistent, and which is so large and heavy as to be impractical for concealed carry will win the hearts and minds of Americans.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.