A Washington-based “biohacker” has created the first implant-activated “smart gun.” A biohacker is a person who experiments with body implants including magnets and in this case, RFID keys. Smart guns use these keys to ensure that only authorized users can shoot them.
The biohacker, Amal Graafstra, has successfully implanted an RFID tag in his hand that serves as a radio-activated safety when it’s in range of his smart gun. It’s a proof-of-concept system to illustrate that it is indeed possible. Graafstra founded and runs his business, Dangerous Things, from home.
Current RFID-based smart gun technology uses wearable tags, such as a ring or bracelet. These pose a problem: because they’re wearable, they can be lost. By implanting the tag in his hand Graafstra has side-stepped the problem entirely.
That said, it’s not as though he isn’t putting new problems on the table. Biohacking, or DIY biology, like smart guns, is also controversial. The hobby exists outside — or at least on the fringe — of medicine and biology. It’s the Internet of Things of body modification.
Even if the system was developed commercially by professionals with full support of the medical and firearms communities — which seems unlikely today — it’ll still be a tough sell.
Between personal, religious or health reasons a lot of people aren’t going to want to get microchipped in the first place. And that assumes the whole system works and is safe to do.
The biohacker solution will have to address several other problems, such as multiple authorized shooters. Will the RFID keys be universal? If so, then there’s no point in using them in the first place — they will be easily copied. What if the user needs to lend the gun to another person? Will the gun recognize wearables in case the other person does not have or want an implant?
What about multiple firearms? Many gun owners, law enforcement officers, military personnel and professional shooters have several guns. How many implants can a person handle? What happens when a smart gun detects multiple keys? In theory, a department could issue one key to all its armed officers — which will be copied and rendered useless.
See Also: Feds Release ‘Smart Gun’ Requirements Outline
An implanted RFID key only makes the key hard to lose. It still suffers from all of the other problems surrounding RFID-based smart guns.
RFID systems require that the gun broadcast a radio signal. They run on batteries, which can fail for any number of reasons. They can run down or get wet and stop working. The electronics have to be hardened to withstand real-world gun use, which can obviously be very violent.
Implant or no, radio signals can be jammed and spoofed. No matter how illegal you make this technology people will continue to make it, at home with parts from a hardware store. Graafstra should know — his shop runs out of his garage in Mt. Vernon, Wash. The jamming doesn’t even have to be deliberate — a lot of common electronics use the same radio frequency and the band can get polluted easily. Electromagnetic interference just happens.
Recently the U.S. government issued a series of requirements and guidelines for smart guns if they ever hope to see departmental use. They require that the guns tested unlock 2,000 times and the gun fire 10,000 times with zero electronics malfunctions.
Graafstra himself is not happy with his gun laws in the state of Washington. He believes it is too easy to get guns. He developed this system to prove that it’s possible — there probably wasn’t much doubt there in the first place. People like Graafstra have been playing around with electronics-based body modification for years
The question is whether or not the technology is likely to see real-world implementation. Right now it seems that the biohacker solution only trades one old problem for a handful of new ones.
Why is this even a consideration? I am a law abiding citizen. My second amendment right should not be infringed upon with this unnecessary implementation of technology. I only shoot my gun legally and when it is not being used, it is secured. Are we implying that the “bad guys” who will always have guns, will be less likely to commit crimes or murder people if this technology is adopted? Come on, the Libtards are really reaching if they support this misuse of “available technology”.
Instead of always fighting this A/H government we have now, we need to change the government.That means rid ourselves of liberal morons, do away with them and their handlers in DC and live a much happier life under our current Constitution..Oh, and rid ourselves of activist JUDGES and that includes the Supreme Court…
i guess also you would not be able to sell any of your guns or buy previously owned guns un less you swaped hands also . i guess the market for toorniquets will just sky rocket !
I have something that I would love to implant between his ears. He has a solution looking for a problem. As far as implants go, no way, ever.
If this idiot wants to put his health at risk with this implant for his smart gun first he needs to get a brain implanted and he will find that the RFID is not the way to go .A brain will help him understand the 2 Amendment.There is no smart guns, only smart gun owners that are law abiding . This BUTT implant device will not keep guns out of the hands of criminals and will not stop them from their life of crime .It may prevent you from defending yourself or your family.
I can barrage jam RFID, GPS, Bluetooth, or anything in the electromagnetic spectrum, but particularly things like RFID that operate at low power. This is not a solution. It’s merely a dumb idea that would jeopardize lives.
Government gone wrong, when will they stop. Our kids are being brain washed that this crap is a good thing. I swear the masses get dumber everyday. Grew up on the left coast, watched it everyday. It is sad. God Bless America! Please!
*** At a Voter registrar training session in Virginia, a hacker using only his cell phone hacked into a touch screen voting machine in 90 seconds and changed the votes within. If hackers can do that and also steal your credit card info while still in your wallet or after you have left the gas pumps how hard will it be to defeat this technology. ***Also for example, now when a couple gets divorced and both have a chip to use the same gun, will there have to be a court order to require the chip be removed or deactivated?
This guy needs the cock (dildos ) implant up his ass. Fucking unAmerican).. Yrs ago they made a ring for a gun lock. You had to wear the ring all the time . Grab the gun with the ring on the same hand to work properly. That was over 30 years ago.
read “The Mandibles” by Lionel Shriver or at least go to Amazon and read about the book and the reviews. A chip was placed in US citizens bodies but to lessen the chance of surgical removal, the chip was place in the neck too close to the spine to surgically remove without great chance of f**king yourself up. Another good book to read is “Submisson” by Michael Houellebecq and the Islamic takeover of France. Both books use very possible scenarios, scary as hell.
Concerns over actual use are not concerns to the government(s). The intent it to make gun ownership so onerous, that people lose interest, or decide it is too expensive. Result is less new guns; fewer sales, more control. Once any government decides “good enough” laws will be passed mandating legal gun ownership be restricted to whatever technology the government likes (you still have RTKBA, but only under approved circumstances). And before anyone starts shouting about constitutional rights, so long as courts permit any sort of restriction on gun rights, we are only talking about type, not legality.
One other problem. Once tagged, anyone (including the Govt.) with an RFID reader would know you are a gun owner. For police and politicians this would be better than universal registration.
You are not sticking any implant into me .. If you want an implant read the article about the Cocks, not Glocks protesters . Implant one of those up your butt . Stupid Frankinstein wanna be trying to play God . What’s next ? Tattoo gun owner’s arm ? Never again 😡
Ya know. . . .this is getting to be really nuts, eh? There isn’t any law or gadget out there that will prevent killing animals or people. And yet, there’s this generational, media-driven obsession with controlling access to weapons of every kind. At least two generations of people have been barraged with anti-gun rhetoric from birth. The brainwashing is so severe in some cases that even the word ‘gun’ strikes fear in them and has become as a swear word. Heck, I’ve got great nieces & nephews who are afraid of a gun just lying on a table or standing in a corner: they’re absolutely terrified of even the sight of the thing!! And these are 4.0 students: future politicians and judges Yikes!@!.
That said, why not just market RFID implants as part of breast augmentation surgery: buy one, get the second implant free. Hell, what woman who packs heat wouldn’t want a custom RFID implant on each side just for convenience? Ambidextrous concealed carry? But, I ‘spose mammograms would be out of the question then. Dang! There’s always sumthin’. Just a thought. Sorry ladies.
NERDS!!!!!!!!
Someone should beat the shit out of this asshole, he’s a traitor to America and her constitution. We don’t need smart guns, we need smart Americans!
Spot on jim
The same technology is being used to unlock cars. Thieves have made a $5 device to circumvent it. Go ahead and google, “car thieves using a new tool to unlock cars” to see why this kind of technology even when not implanted is near worthless. Additionally, having the government turn it all off, when you might need it the most is a real danger.
666
I can see the Dumbocrats forcing this first on police and military. Undoubtedly, malfunctions will occur, or counter measures will be developed by the bad guys, and good people will die as a result. What if you run out of ammo in a firefight, and are forced to use your partner’s weapon but the “chip” won’t sync? This is another libtard utopian pipe dream that’s going to get people killed.
If G-man wants to surrender his individual freedom from gov’t lookie-loos, that’s his prerogative. Guess I don’t get it when certain of those among use would sue a school over the wear of a ‘banned’ T-shirt but then line up to have a named Constitutional right stripped from themselves.
I wonder if the V chip he installed in himself will get him past the junk-watcher at the airport without a photo of his naked body being saved on a USG server.
No implant for me… all someone has to do is fry the chip when they cook you with microwave surveillance tech and the Firearms won’t work. Instant disarming of the population. Not to mention if we ever got attacked by an alien species they might be able to use the technology against us like taking control of the chip and having it magnify a frequency that fries our body cells.
You forgot to include a scenario involving zombies.
Golly gee, if you get bit on the hand by a zombie and you need to chop your hand off to keep from getting infected your firearm would be useless! Nope, if Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon aint got one, then it aint no good!
I agree and disagree with this type of technology for no matter how safe it is determined to be there will always be someone who finds the cracks in the wall, and i would hate to be the owner of a firearm thats used in some kind of a shooting esspecially if my hand is the only one able to use it. In the end its a good idea only i wouldnt feel very secure using it plus im doubtful it would work for older style firearms for what can i say i do love black powder
If only one person can fire the gun, the cops won’t have to look for suspects. They will just arrest the guy. This will vastly increase the amount of time the cops can spend at the doughnut shop.
The up side to all this is the really nasty staph infections cops are going to get from Mr. Biohacker.
My main concern is right or wrong these things can be manipulated externally and that is a deal killer ur trying to defend urself from mass shooting type senarios or anything thats a gunfight and the cops shut down everyones guns and ur done cause the bad guy isnt using a smartgun or maybe there trying to confiscate guns and u have no recourse to fight back if thats the only gun. I would never own one just something else that can malfunction but others would undoubtedly be affected however 8 think it may be a good idea for police and soldiers not the implant but on the badge or dogtag ect, itegrate 2 transmitters for redundancy, that way the weapon are useless if stolen or being used by a “badguy”.
Be very scared people. The government has already tested implants at Ohare airport. Those who got implants were allowed to go past security without stopping. But these will be just like SS numbers, when they were rolled out it was promised that they would never be used as a form of ID. If we are not cautious, our kids will be getting ID implants “for their own good”.
50+ million on welfare, huge under/un-employed (that aren’t being reported accurately) numbers, the worst economy in history since the great depression……and we are toying with this kind of crap!!!??? Yes, be VERY scared. It’s insane that we have let things get this bad in our country. If I weren’t so conservative, I would almost think we deserve a dictator/queen like Hitlary. Where’s my sign that says “the end is near” ??? I’m about to head for the street corner….lol!
If that ever happend and i had i child i guess i would be forced to find it and cut it out just like if anyone ever put a chip in me. And seriously? Im gonna have to look into that ss number
Never seen a public program where the government tested implants…please provide a link or you just made it up…
Good thing a bad guy will not be able to cut his hand open to get the implant.
. . . .or cut it off entirely just for good measure.
I was going to say exactly what you said. A lot of thugs will start chopping off hands or other things. The muzzies are already doing this crap(chopping off hands or whatever) as punishment. I don’t think whey will hesitate if it meant they would get a gun.