First-ever smart gun with biometric unlock launched, to reduce accidental firing

Amid raging incidents of shooting in the United States, a group of engineer, with strong understanding of both biometrics and ballistics, restored hope in reducing such violent incidents. A US-based company Biofire has developed ‘smart guns’ that use biometric identification, which would only allow authorised persons to fire.

According to Bloomberg, Biofire’s founder Kai Kloepfer, who is 26 now, was working on this hand gun since 15. The company is now taking pre-orders with an aim to deliver the products by early next year. With the new technology-laden 9 mm handgun, Kloepfer aims to reduce deaths of kids due to accidental firing as well as bring down suicide rates in the country.

“I’m not from Silicon Valley, so I don’t think technology can solve every problem…But I do think America has a unique ability to solve some complicated sociopolitical problems with technology,” the founder told Bloomberg.

Features of Biofire Smart Gun

There have been debates and disagreement over the use of smart guns as their viability on their quality couldn’t be ascertained. Attempts have been made in recent times to develop smart guns, however, lacked in their vitality and had only been equipped with a couple of sensors to a regular handgun.

The significant feature that sets Biofire Smart Gun apart from others is its fingerprint and facial recognition system. The fingerprint sensor has been added on the grip and the facial recognition sensor added on rear of the weapon.

“We’re not claiming that the Biofire Smart Gun is going to prevent every instance of firearm misuse. But we do believe this tool can help prevent some firearm suicides, accidents, and injuries from occurring,” Kloepfer told The Washington Post.

According to the official website, the Biofire smart gun will lock itself the moment its user leaves the gun from hand. “Your Smart Gun only fires for the people you choose, so your firearm can never cause a tragic outcome in the hands of a child, criminal, or anyone else,” it said, adding that it has ‘lightning-fast biometrics’ to unlock instantly after picking it up.

The firm is backed by some tech giants including Intel, Google, NASA along with Army Futures Command, according to the website.