Patent ID: 7703229

Claim:
Safety device for a hand-held weapon comprising: (a) a transponder for authenticating at least one authorized weapon user carrying or wearing the transponder or for authenticating an allowed area for using the weapon, (b) wherein the transponder is formed as a relatively small device to be constantly carried or worn by the user and is configured to emit a wirelessly cryptified authenticating signal; (c) wherein the transponder further comprises a switch for activating the transponder for a given period of time for emitting the authenticating signal and comprises a biometric sensor, for identifying an authorized user before activating the transponder, (d) a safety means for a grip of the weapon which is configured to be necessarily activated by a hand of the user when the hand is holding the grip of the weapon and which upon activation emits a wireless request signal, (e) wherein the transponder is configured to emit the authenticating signal upon receipt of the request signal from the safety means, (f) wherein the safety means is further configured to receive and process the authenticating signal from the transponder; and (g) wherein the safety means is configured to only permit firing of the weapon by the user upon receipt of an authenticating signal from the transponder authenticating an authorized user, wherein the safety device is configured to permit firing of the weapon for a given number of shots or for a given period of time once the safety means has received an authenticating signal from an authorized user.