President Obama, in what is likely to become one of his last major policy pushes before leaving the White House, pressed forward Friday new “smart gun” guidelines that he foresaw as shaping the future of firearms manufacturing technology.
Specifically, Obama said he’d like to see safety features incorporated into guns that would prevent accidental shootings, and called on manufacturers to add fingerprint-activation technology so that only the owner could fire.
“These common-sense steps are not going to prevent every tragedy,” Obama wrote on Facebook. “But what if they prevented even one? As long as we’ve got the technology to prevent a criminal from stealing and using your smartphone, then we should be able to prevent the wrong person from pulling a trigger on a gun.”
He also wrote: “We’ve jumpstarted the development of smart gun technology. Today, many gun injuries and deaths are the result of legal guns that were stolen, misused, or discharged accidentally. As long as we’ve got the technology to prevent a criminal from stealing and using your smartphone, then we should be able to prevent the wrong person from pulling a trigger on a gun. So, my Administration released a plan today to expedite the development of smart gun technology, including by identifying the requirements that smart guns would have to meet in order for law enforcement to purchase and use them effectively.”
He said the Justice Department would serve as a source of funding to broaden the smart gun program by providing money for state and local governments to purchase firearms equipped with the technology.
