But the company is creating its own manufacturing company and plans to produce new semiautomatic Smart Guns within a few months. Manufacturers say that personalizing technology will become standard for handguns in the long term, even if it raises costs significantly in the short term. Some 35 million to 50 million Americans say they won't own a gun because of the risks. But 20 percent of those people say they would buy a personalized gun. Gun-control advocates aren't exactly thrilled that the new weapons might encourage more Americans to own guns.
Families are still safer without any gun in the house, they say.
Still, if families feel they need firearms protection, it's much better to have a personalized weapon, says Bryan Miller, executive director of Ceasefire New Jersey, a gun-violence prevention group based in Trenton. The group is pushing New Jersey legislators to require all new handguns sold in the state to incorporate personalization technology. It hopes to get its bill passed next year, which would give firearms companies until 2001 to make the necessary changes. The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.