Monday, September 1, 2014

Can a Smartphone App Fix America’s Gun-Control Problem?

from ssgmarkcr

This app started out looking sort of interesting,

"The 58-year-old inventor has created a new app called Lockdown, which he believes could decrease the country's number of gun-related crimes. The app works with a “clip” containing a GPS chip that a user can attach to his gun. The owner leaves his gun in designated areas and enters a code when he wants to remove his weapon. If someone removes the gun without entering the code, the smart chip sends a notification to the owner's smartphone. The gun owner can then cancel the alert, or forward it to police, family, neighbors, or anyone else he's chosen as an emergency contact on the app."

    This app could have promise as many gun owners have a lot of money invested in their collections and knowing if someone is messing with them is a good thing. And there are many apps out there which gun owners use, such as the app I've mentioned before that lists businesses that post that they ban guns in their venues. 
    But then comes the kicker that likely insures that this app will never become "profitable" without government intervention,

 "In an ideal scenario, Barron said, congress would pass a law that would require gun makers to include Lockdown’s technology on weapons—legislation that could possibly piss off gun-rights groups like the National Rifle Association."

    He even has a history of coming up with safety products that work and have become profitable on their own merit in the private sector,

"His company, Public Transportation Safety International Corporation, creates the S-1 GARD Danger Zone Deflector, the plastic arms that extend from the front of buses to prevent people from getting run over."

    I've seen these devices on school buses, a great idea that has a widening market.  While they are mandated in some states, they aren't in others.  However, with the recent exposures of government misuse of surveillance technology, Mr. Barron has just shot himself in the foot so to speak.  I do applaud his honesty though.

   

15 comments:

  1. You have proven you wouldn't know honesty if it bit you in the ass.

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  2. Ah, the Saw Stop business model. Ideas that are so good they must be mandated by law.

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  3. The real reason this would never work is because most gun owners absolutely refuse to cooperate with government restrictions. What they'll say is that this is just an attempt to identify where all the guns are so they can be swept up by Executive Order from Obama.

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  4. I hear those chips are delicate. Be a shame if those mandatory chips got ruined by an accidental scratch of a dental pick while cleaning.

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  5. Like with smart guns, I don't care if this guy wants to invent these and if people want to use them--the problem is when the government requires their use to the detriment of people's privacy and to the detriment of the freedom of the market.

    By mandating the use of this they would be creating a captive market for this guy, giving him a shortcut to riches and a safe position where he might get away with not improving his product--after all, that just eats into his guaranteed profits.

    As for privacy, let's leave out Mikeb's fantasy of government confiscation for now. There are some people who like having chips in everything from their OnStar system to their toaster and coffee maker so that they can communicate, be activated by smart phone, etc. There are some of us who don't care for these things--maybe because we don't trust the durability of these products, or because we don't care for hackers to be able to locate our car/device/whatever.

    We just saw the "where's my iPhone" app exploited to steal personal information. I was surprised to not see any mention pointing out that the hacker could have also used the hacked app to figure out where the various ladies were had they had more nefarious motives.

    A hack of this system, or of a phone which had this app on it, might be exploitable to allow criminals to locate guns for theft. Conversely, this app would be one more app on your phone which could provide some kind of back door access for hackers.

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    1. "As for privacy, let's leave out Mikeb's fantasy of government confiscation for now."

      Yeah, I came up with that one, right?

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    2. For clarity by your fantasy, I meant your fantasy outcome--after sufficient evolution of course.

      Without even getting into the argument over that issue, surely you can see why people might have privacy concerns regarding this tech.

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  6. Who said the government would mandate its use? You gun loons just can't help being dishonest, knee jerk, reactionaries, which always makes you look looney.

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    1. From the text of the post:
      "In an ideal scenario, Barron said, congress would pass a law that would require gun makers to include Lockdown’s technology on weapons . . ."

      Learn to read.

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  7. Derp...

    "In an ideal scenario, Barron said, congress would pass a law that would require gun makers to include Lockdown’s technology on weapons—legislation that could possibly piss off gun-rights groups like the National Rifle Association."

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  8. And you know that will never happen it's a salesman's dream world, so shove your paranoia.

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    Replies
    1. And if you read our comments you'd see that the only thing we're taking issue with is that dream world--not the tech itself.

      What or who are you arguing with?

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    2. Point is it is a DREAM world but you rant6 like Stalin is making decisions for America. You are a knee jerk reactionary and useless to any discussion of serious issues.

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  9. And guns aren't human beings you racist pigs.

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    Replies
    1. And nobody said they were--that's just coming from the voices.

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