Loretta Weinberg: New Jersey should embrace smart gun technology

An estimated 1.7 million children in the United States live in homes with unlocked loaded firearms, and statistics show that each year there are hundreds of unintentional shootings resulting from children getting hold of a gun.

Earlier this year, an 11-year-old accidentally discharged a gun he found in a Newark home, fatally wounding a 10-year-old boy who was visiting for a family party. In 2016, a 6-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his 4-year-old brother with his mother’s gun in East Orange. And two years ago, a 4-year-old Toms River boy found an unsecured gun in his house, and killed his 6-year-old friend while playing “pretend shooting.”

It was these kinds of tragedies that inspired New Jersey to lead the way in promoting smart gun technology with a 2002 law requiring all handguns sold in the state to contain personalized technology once it is available and found to meet certain established standards. The law has since seen intense resistance from the gun lobby that stymied the effort to get smart guns to the market.

Sadly, child gun deaths continue – as do murders with stolen firearms, suicides with guns that do not belong to the victims, and law enforcement deaths stemming from “gun grabs.”

We cannot continue to view these tragedies as inevitable occurrences in a country with some of the brightest minds in research, development and innovation – and thankfully there are experts and advocates who are continuing the effort to advance smart gun technology, which prevents an unauthorized user from operating a handgun, and their work is showing promising results.

I recently joined a distinguished group of law enforcement, firearms trainers, health researchers, smart gun innovators, investors, advocates and elected officials at the “Law Enforcement and Smart Guns Symposium” in Washington, D.C.

Attendees who traveled from nine states, Germany and Brazil, heard from a cross section of experts, including an all-star panel consisting of  former U.S. Border Control Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske, Mark Plazinski, of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, Mike Farrell, CEO of Smart Firearms and Ernst Mauch, a leading smart gun developer, among others, who discussed the challenges involved with this burgeoning technology and the next steps forward in the effort to ultimately bring it to consumers.

Two innovators reported remarkable progress in developing a Glock 19 with personalized handgun technology, the gun most commonly used by police departments and generally thought of as the benchmark smart guns must meet to be considered for use by law enforcement.

Mauch, the well-known firearms developer, is close to putting into production an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) gun that would meet the current standards of the Glock 19. A second innovator has successfully adapted a Glock 19 for fingerprint ID technology, and is now working on a new design.

We are also seeing increased interest in smart guns from law enforcement, which is encouraging.

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Results from a survey presented at the symposium found that three out of five officers would be interested in a firearm that could only be fired by the authorized user if the technology was tested and proven.

There is good reason for this. Eighty-four percent said they were concerned about a criminal suspect taking their firearm and using it against them or someone else, and 27 percent of the 400 law enforcement officials surveyed said a suspect has already tried to take away their gun.

The interest we are seeing now is notable, since resistance to smart gun technology driven by the National Rifle Association has unfortunately hindered many opportunities for thoughtful discussions on this issue and slowed the process of advancing the technology.

New Jersey became the first state in the nation to enact a law that mandated the use of smart-gun technology, and required that all handguns sold in the state be child-proof, once the technology became available and approved by the state. When it appeared the mandate could possibly be triggered, gun proponents pushed back and threatened store owners in Maryland and California – ultimately leading them to back off of selling the firearms.

In an effort to advance the technology, I worked on new legislation.

Last year, the Legislature passed a bill (S816) to repeal the 2002 mandate and instead require each firearm retailer in New Jersey to offer for sale a personalized handgun model once they are available on the market and deemed by a state commission to meet established standards.

The governor conditionally vetoed the legislation.

I still believe that government has a role to play in protecting residents from preventable gun deaths by helping to bring this technology to the market, but I am also more optimistic than ever that we are on track to see major developments in the near future.

I look forward to continuing to work on this issue with the next governor’s administration, and toward a time when no child can get their hands on a gun and unintentionally carry out a shooting, no resident can have a gun stolen and used in a crime or a suicide, and no law enforcement officer can have their gun taken and turned on them.

Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, serves as majority leader in the state Senate. She represents the 37th Legislative District.