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Taken from the www.usnews.com website.

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Can `smart' guns save many lives?



The newest idea for gun control: `smart' pistols that can be fired
only by their owners

In Muskingum County, Ohio, Sheriff's Lt. Michael Lutz surprised a
burglar breaking into a gas station and wound up dead from three
gunshots to the face. In Fall River, Mass., Officer Thomas Giunta
scuffled with a man in an apartment building and died of three shots
to the chest. In Christiansburg, Va., Officer Terry Griffith was
fatally shot once in the head while trying to catch a shoplifter. Each
officer was shot with his own weapon, wrestled away by an assailant.
The stories aren't unusual: From 1985 to 1994, 89 cops were slain with
their own guns.

What if guns were "smart" (or "personalized") enough to fire only for
their rightful owners and a few other authorized users? That would
probably save cops' lives and prevent other tragedies as well. Close
to 500 children and adolescents are killed in firearms accidents each
year, many with their parents' guns. Some 1,400 youngsters commit
suicide with guns annually.

Personalizing guns is also likely to help stanch the flow of firearms
to criminals. Studies show that 40 percent to 70 percent of the guns
used by felons are stolen, most from private homes. Thefts total some
half-million guns a year. Smart guns would be less attractive targets,
since most criminals could not easily put them to use.

Inoperable. "Personalized handguns would be inoperable by the curious
young child, the depressed teenager and the criminal who steals the
gun from a home or disarms a law enforcement officer," says Stephen
Teret of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. For
several years, Teret and a small band of public-health experts have
looked into the smart-guns idea, with results that are shaping the
next gun-control debate.

In February, Sandia National Laboratories completed a study laying out
law enforcement requirements for smart guns and evaluating options in
technology. Firearms makers are developing prototypes. Plaintiffs are
demanding that all guns be made smart (story, Page 38), and lawmakers
in several cities and states are likely soon to propose laws requiring
all guns sold within their boundaries to include smart technology.

Fulton Arms Inc. and Colt's Manufacturing Co. are testing designs that
go way beyond the low-tech devices like trigger locks used most
recently to prevent unauthorized users from firing a gun. An early
version of the Fulton SSR-6 revolver won top honors at the 1993
National Inventors Expo. In it, a magnetic encoder sends a signal from
a ring worn by the owner to a decoder in the weapon. It can't fire
unless the connection unlocks the trigger. According to Fulton's chief
executive officer, Kenneth Pugh, the company hopes to mass produce the
gun by next spring, primarily for homeowners who want a weapon for
self-defense.

The Colt's entry--a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol--is intended
primarily for police. Radio signals allow the weapon to recognize and
respond to a transponder worn by the authorized user (graphic). The
transponder's normal range is only a few inches, so the gun won't work
for a stranger who snatches it. The weapon is designed to recognize up
to 50 transponders, so other cops could fire the gun if necessary.
Colt's officials say they've figured out a way to defeat jamming of
the radio system, a frequent concern, but they won't say how. The
smart system will hike the cost of a standard service pistol from $600
to $900. Colt's hopes to place 100 or so in cops' hands for testing
within 15 months and put the guns on sale in late 1999. "We're very
excited about this," says Doug Overbury, Colt's vice president for
engineering, "and we're frothing at the mouth to move it to the next
level." Police groups are guardedly optimistic, wondering how reliable
the guns are.

A model law. The politics of the smart-guns issue are also gathering
momentum. Within weeks, the Johns Hopkins gun policy center will
release a model law that states and localities could use to require
personalized guns. The Model Handgun Safety Standard Act would create
local commissions to establish specifications for smart guns that
would have to be met within four years. Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke
has already expressed interest. The model law is likely to result in
proposed legislation early next year in traditionally liberal gun
states like Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey. This week,
Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger will hold a hearing
on proposed rules requiring all handguns sold in the state to be
equipped with childproofing features.

While gun owners and manufacturers' groups say they support smart
technology that would yield safer firearms, the model law makes them
suspect that the real agenda of smart-gun backers may be a scheme to
confiscate or ban guns. They also worry that the technology might
create a false sense of security and reduce pressure for the kind of
education and training that represent the keys to firearm safety. But
advocates for the advance claim that some people will always act
irresponsibly. And some are likely to be saved by a smarter gun.



BY GORDON WITKIN
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