Owner-Authorized Handguns A Workshop Summary (2003) / Chapter Skim
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Session 3: Impact on Health and Crime
Session 3: Impact on Health and Crime
Pages 39-51
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From page 39... ...
Prof. Cook said that one of the things he found most remarkable about the morning proceedings was the significant push by the federal government to develop personalized gun technologies to protect lawenforcement officers and by the New lersey state legislature to protect children.
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From page 40... ...
In many urban neighborhoods, serious violence reduces property values, stops commercial development, and encourages neighborhood flight. The dynamic was illustrated in the 1990s, when a major decline in violence, especially gun violence, coupled with an economic renaissance, led to huge increases in property values in inner cities.
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From page 41... ...
To what extent would a particular personalization design influence each of these? A standard key or combination lock design should presumably prevent household diversions, and, if the gun were locked, prevent take-aways.
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From page 42... ...
For new gun-safety technology, a competing risk might be that, as safer options become available, handgun ownership might rise, thus increasing the overall risk of gun violence. A second competing risk is that some people might get a false sense of confidence, and choose to keep their guns loaded and otherwise unlocked because they think their guns are now safe.
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From page 43... ...
Different smart-gun designs would accomplish different purposes. But the larger purpose of all smart-gun technologies should be to reduce diversions, Prof.
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From page 44... ...
No one in his household misused his father's gun, but many young people make very poor decisions about the use of family guns, decisions that result in accidental shootings, accidental deaths, and suicides. In contrast to home- and family-related misuse of handguns, lawenforcement take-aways are a relatively minor problem.
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From page 45... ...
i' The next speaker, Paul Blackman, research coordinator for the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association, said he knows of no opposition to efforts to develop technologies to prevent unauthorized use of handguns, as long as they are conducted by the private sector. A few gun owners want "such gadgetry," he said, and there is nothing wrong with developing it for them.
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From page 46... ...
The question is how unreliable handguns would be, and what would be done by gun owners to keep at least some of them reliable. If unreliability were forced onto all new or all transferred handguns, many buyers would be anxious to restore reliability to their guns.
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From page 47... ...
VPC believes that if the gun industry wants to develop and market ownerauthorized guns, they should, but they should do it with their own resources, not government funds. VPC also believes that such technologies should be subject to the same oversight as other American consumer products regular reviews by an independent agency that balances risks against benefits.
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From page 48... ...
The real target of the gun industry's efforts to develop personalized handguns is not law enforcement, and has never been law enforcement, he suggested. Introducing a new gun technology to the law-enforcement or defense community first is a means of getting into the civilian market, which can then be much more easily penetrated, and which is orders of magnitude bigger.
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From page 49... ...
The main reason most people buy handguns is for self-defense, and they are not going to buy an implement for self-defense that they make ineffective, by their own actions. Advocates of so-called smart guns like to draw attention to unintentional shooting deaths of children.
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From page 50... ...
The ORE has conducted research for 20 years on issues related to the prevention and control of firearms violence. However, the office has not done social or behavioral research on the impacts of owner-authorized handgun technology, because the technology is still under development.
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From page 51... ...
Ownerauthorizecl guns could become a valuable tool in reducing certain kinds of injuries ancl cleath, but it will not cut clown on crimes ancl violence resulting from the use of available nonpersonalizecl hanclguns. Moreover, great care will have to be exercised by those who advocate laws requiring the technology to avoid the potential for increased violence ancl crime by criminals seeking to acquire pre-law, nonpersonalizecl hanclguns.
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