US develops gun activated by facial recognition, reads owner's fingerprints

Biofire Tech's Smart Gun

A US company has begun taking orders for a smart gun that is activated by facial recognition technology, which allows only verified users to use the gun.

Kai Kloepfer, CEO of Colorado-based Biofire Tech, said the gun's software and electronics have been fully tested.

At Biofire’s headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado, Kloepfer demonstrated how the company’s gun works to reporters from the British news agency Reuters. Kloepfer initially fired a single shot without any problems, then put the gun down. Another man picked up the gun and tried to fire it, but it failed because the gun could not recognize his face.

Biofire's guns can also be activated by fingerprint readers, one of several smart gun features designed to prevent children from accidentally firing guns, reduce suicides, protect police from gun muggers, or render lost and stolen guns useless.

Biofire said the first consumer-ready versions of the 9mm pistol could ship to pre-order customers as early as the fourth quarter of this year. The standard model, priced at $1,499, could be available starting in the second quarter of 2024.

Biofire Tech CEO Kai Kloepfer demonstrates how to use the company's smart gun

Two other US companies, LodeStar Works and Free State Firearms, are also trying to bring smart guns to market.

Many people are skeptical about smart gun technology, saying it may not be effective when needed for immediate self-defense.

According to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), since the beginning of this year until April 10, the US has recorded 11,523 deaths in gun-related incidents, equivalent to an average of 115 deaths per day. Previously, GVA said that in all of 2022, 20,249 people died in shootings, gun accidents or using guns for self-defense. More than 24,000 cases of suicide by gun.

In June 2022, US President Joe Biden signed into law the bipartisan "Safer Communities" gun control bill, the first federal reform of gun laws in three decades in the country.

The 80-page bill includes millions of dollars for mental health, school safety, crisis intervention programs and incentives for states to include juvenile records in the National Criminal Background Check System. It also makes significant changes to gun purchase regulations for people between the ages of 18 and 21.

According to VNA