After receiving fierce pushback for many of his broader gun control policies President Obama has decided to focus his efforts on smart gun technology. A “smart gun” is a firearm that utilizes technology that allows only its owner to fire it. The president is using his executive power to push gun manufacturers to integrate this technology into their weapons.
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Smart gun technology would make a gun useless in the hand of anyone other than the owner. Obama justified his reasoning for supporting the push for smart gun technology in a facebook post:
“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.”
The initiative was unveiled along with a report from the White House. The Obama administration plans to offer cash prizes and grants to gun manufacturers who pursue the technology.
This latest executive action is being seen as a less confrontational approach to gun control. Earlier this year Obama announced a series of executive actions that improved the tracking of stolen weapons, expanded background checks for gun purchases and announced a federal rule that made sure federal mental health records are included in background check.
Despite being “less confrontational” the new attempted measures are being met with resistance from various high ranking officials, including members of the police force, who view the proposal as an unproven and unwarranted restriction of second amendment rights.
Here is Obama’s Facebook post along with the full text of the Facebook post:
Today, I want to update you on some important progress we’ve made to protect our communities from gun violence. As I said in January, these commonsense steps are not going to prevent every tragedy, but what if they prevented even one? We should be doing everything we can to save lives and spare families the pain and unimaginable loss too many Americans have endured.
First, 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 – and keep themselves and the public safer in the process.
Second, we’re doing more to make sure that those who are already prohibited from obtaining a firearm can’t get their hands on one. Today, we’re announcing a rule to ensure that federal mental health records about individuals prohibited from buying a gun are reported to the background check system.
Third, the White House will convene state and local elected officials from all 50 states in May to discuss their efforts to prevent gun violence through legislative and executive actions. The goal is to figure out what works on the ground when it comes to keeping our communities safe, and then share those practices.
As long as I’m your president, I will do everything in my power to make our communities safer and keep guns out of the wrong hands. That includes calling on Congress to pass the kinds of commonsense reforms supported by the vast majority of the American people.
Making progress on these issues is how we honor the lives that have been lost by gun violence, and it’s how we leave behind a stronger, more secure nation for our children.
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