This seems like a really good idea. A German company called Armatix has developed a handgun that can only be fired by someone wearing a biometrically unlocked wrist watch. An LED light on the gun glows green if it’s set to be fired or red if it’s locked.
According to the product page:
“To activate the wrist watch, the authorized person’s fingerprint must first be read by the wrist watch. An internal database compares the current fingerprint against stored prints and responds accordingly. The wrist watch is then activated for a definable period – e.g. an officer’s work shift or until manually deactivated.”
So probably not great for cases when you need to fire as quickly as possible (unless whatever’s going down happens within the unlocked time frame) but ultimately very safe for plenty of other scenarios.
The .22 caliber handgun will apparently be available sometime next month with a price of 7,000 Euro (almost $10,000) — definitely a niche item at first but perhaps the technology will become more widespread in the future, causing prices to decrease.
Armatix GmbH [Armatrix.com via DVICE/Wired]
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