Posted on 06/15/2018 6:34:17 AM PDT by Simon Green
A Connecticut Democrat introduced legislation Thursday designed to give all involved with so-called “smart guns” a tax credit in one form or another.
The Start Advancing Firearms Enhancements and Technology Act, introduced as H.R. 6109, would up federal tax credits to cover 100 percent of the research expenses in smart gun technology and, should the firearms become commercially available, exempt smart gun components from long-standing federal excise taxes. The net effect, said the sponsor, would be to both make development less risky and guns cheaper to buy for the consumer.
“If we can incentivize manufacturers to invest in smart gun technology and encourage consumers to buy those products, we can prevent more accidents, reduce violence committed with stolen guns, protect children and bring overall fatalities down,” said U.S. Rep. Jeff Himes in a statement. “And, let’s be very clear, saving lives is the absolute top priority.”
While the language of the legislation is not available, the Congressman’s office said the bill will increase the tax credit for R&D into firearm technology that incorporates biometric or fingerprint locks and radio-frequency identification to offset the full cost of investing in its development. The credit would be available for both those already conducting such research in the field as well as to new start-ups.
Further, it would exempt the firearms and their components from the current 10-11 percent federal excise tax assessed against the manufacturer, which Himes said will translate to lower prices for consumers.
Gun control groups who favor smart gun technology say it has been retarded due to “obstructionism by the gun lobby” and the proposed legislation could help produce technological advancements in the field.
“The technology to make firearms more secure already exists, but more investment in safer guns and accessories is needed for these innovations to reach the market and start protecting our children and communities,” said Robyn Thomas with Giffords. “But in order for that idea to become a reality, we must call on entrepreneurs, businesses, and investors to embrace the challenge of using new technology to power safety innovation.”
The trade group for the firearms industry has long-held that they are not opposed to the further development of so-called smart guns – so long as its use is not made a requirement by lawmakers. Laws mandating the sale of smart guns only — such as a dormant example adopted in New Jersey in 2002 — have been repeatedly blamed for the stagnation in the marketing of personalized firearms even while repeated attempts have been made by Democrats in Congress to restrict the sales of traditional guns in favor of those equipped with the budding technology.
It doesn’t help that the only smart gun made available to the domestic market in recent years is a $1,400 .22LR pistol made by a troubled niche company in Germany that proved nearly impossible to review and, ironically, was shown to be easily hacked with a magnet.
Himes’s legislation has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means and has no co-sponsors.
Nice. You’re being mugged or raped and you get a message on your “smart” watch that tells you that your “smart” gun is “Loading, please wait”. No thanks.
Even if every single Federal, State, and local law enforcement officer has carried these and no other for a decade I still wouldn’t buy one.
L
I wouldn’t have one if they were giving them away.
No
Smart Guns. Made by the same people that make these dumbass smart phones. NFW!
Tell ya what.
When the military, cops, FBI, Secret Service, etc., adopt these ‘smart’ weapons, I will start considering them.
I like my guns to be just like liberals: loud, obnoxious, dumb, and predictable....."
CNC machines, 3-D printers and 80% finished receivers render this Dumbocrat idiocy DOA. Go ahead and waste your time, Giffords.
While modern firearms manufactured by reputable manufactures are more reliable than ever, jams are still not uncommon especially with smaller, personal carry semi-auto handguns. This is especially true for people who aren’t avid shooters and don’t clean and maintain them on a regular basis or buy cheap off-brand ammo. Every layer of complexity added to a firearm lowers its reliability. And for a personal defense firearm reliability is the absolute number one factor to be concerned with.
All yo need to know ( More of NJ, the Nation’s $hit Fountain, migrating to CT via Harvard):
“Himes was born July 5, 1966 in Lima, Peru, to American parents, where his father worked for the Ford Foundation.
His father, James R. Himes, also worked for UNICEF, being the director of the Unicef Innocenti Center, a research institute on child development in Florence, Italy.
His mother, Judith A. Himes, was, until recent years, the director of board activities for the New Jersey Board of Higher Education in Trenton.
He spent his early childhood in Lima and Bogotá, Colombia. After the divorce of his parents, Jim, his mother, and his two sisters moved to Pennington, New Jersey, where Himes attended and graduated from Hopewell Valley Central High School.
Himes attended Harvard University as an undergraduate where he was the captain of the Lightweight crew and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1988. Himes studied for a degree in Latin American studies as a Rhodes scholar at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and graduated with a Master of Philosophy in 1990. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Bridgeport on May 5, 2012.”
Yep.
And now, he brags about it!
Harvard IS “the lightweight crew!”
Heh, my thoughts exactly.
“Gun control groups who favor smart gun technology say it has been retarded due to “obstructionism by the gun lobby””
LOL. So why don’t they make their own “smart guns” and corner the market? Or is the gun lobby controlling them too?
“shown to be easily hacked with a magnet”
Gee, that opens up whole new avenues for crime. Want to murder someone and get away with it? Get their spouse’s smart gun, hack it, shoot the victim, put the smart gun back.
Very little chance the police would even bother to look for another suspect in that case.
Actually, it will only tell you that after you swipe through 5 popup ads served up by Google.
Dependability. Nothing else matters.
Excellent point. A back door gun ban.
This is utterly bogus. Every firearm is already a ‘smart gun’ if its owner isn’t a Bonehead and had the proper education.
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