Gareth Glaser, a retired executive from Radnor, Pennsylvania, has a plan to bring a “smart gun” to market by the summer of 2019. His firearm would incorporate “token recognition technology,” which prevents a gun from firing without a corresponding piece of equipment being within inches of the trigger.
Gareth Glaser could be seen as an optimist. After all, he believes gun owners will pay more to implement strong safety mechanisms in firearms.
He even believes gun owners might be willing to have chips implanted in their hands.
The implanted microchip would send a signal to a "smart gun" held in that person's hand allowing for the trigger to operate, Glaser, CEO of Lodestar Firearms, told NBC10.
The implant is only one of a few ideas to improve the safety of guns. Glaser said a ring or watch could also be used as signal-bearers — if worn, a handgun could be fired.
It's called "token recognition technology": The technology keeps a gun from firing unless the "token" is within inches of the trigger. Glaser believes it's the gun of the future.
"Our token is either going to be in a ring, in a bracelet, or quite possibly implanted right here between your thumb and forefinger," Glaser said as he showed off a similar smart gun made in Germany. "I think law enforcement would go for that."
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As NBC10 reported in November for an initial story on smart gun technology and the impediments to their sales growth in the United States, an average of seven children shoot themselves each day.
That type of tragedy is exactly what spurred Glaser, of Radnor Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, to getting into the firearm manufacturing business. The former executive with 30 years' experience in the energy and pharmaceutical industries was at a colleague's party when the woman's son shot himself accidentally with a shotgun.
He survived, but Glaser was moved to try and do something. He said Lodestar plans to bring a smart gun to market by the summer of 2019. He expects the handgun to cost about 20 percent more than its common counterpart: roughly $750.
