New Jersey Measure Would Require That Pistols Be Operable Only by Specific Users
Nov. 20, 2013
A law that injects technology into the gun debate has lain dormant for more than 10 years. Now it may be about to wake up.
In
2002, New Jersey passed a law saying that once technology is available
to prevent a gun from being used by an unauthorized person, only that
type of handgun may be sold in the state.
Now,
a German company, Armatix GmbH, is close to putting the first such
"personalized" handgun on U.S. shelves. The model, called the iP1
Pistol, can be set up to fire only when its owner is wearing a special
watch that communicates with the gun.
The New Jersey law, the only one of
its kind in the U.S., mandates that within three years from the date
such a gun becomes available in any state, all handguns sold in New
Jersey must include technology to limit their use to specific people.
The
Armatix model already is available in Europe and Asia and will "almost
certainly" reach U.S. stores by the end of the year, according to
Belinda Padilla,
the president of Armatix's U.S. arm.
The iP1 Pistol will cost $1,399 and the watch an additional $399, Armatix said. That is a significant premium over a Glock or
Smith & Wesson Holding Corp.
SWHC +1.10%
handgun, which costs in the range of $400 to $500.
To
use the Armatix, the gun's owner must enter a five-digit passcode into
the watch, which then communicates wirelessly with the weapon to unlock
it. The user can set the pistol to be active for one to eight hours.
The
federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives approved
the weapon for importation into the U.S. in 2011, and earlier this year
California, which has some of the nation's strictest gun laws, approved
the sale of the gun.
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