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Slate Technology

What Next TBD: Can Smart Guns Save Lives?

Slate Technology

Slate

Society & Culture, Technology, History

4.6636 Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A “smart gun” is designed to only work in the hands of the gun’s proper owner. With the first smart gun potentially coming to market later this year, can the tech deliver on its promise? Guests:  Champe Barton, reporter at the Trace Kai Kloepfer, founder and CEO of Biofire If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Forgot your wallet? No problem.

0:03.0

With Samsung Wallet, everything you need is already on your phone.

0:08.0

Store your loyalty cards, earn rewards when you spend, and keep your travels smooth with boarding passes and train tickets ready to go.

0:15.0

You can even tap in on public transport, no unlocking, no digging around.

0:20.0

And yes, your payment cards can live here too.

0:23.1

Safely stored and ready when you need them. Travel Light, live smart. Set up Samsung Wallet today.

0:30.9

Just a quick heads up before we get started. We'll be talking about gun violence and suicide,

0:36.2

particularly against children in this episode.

0:39.0

Okay, here's the show.

0:40.8

Guns are the leading cause of death for minors.

0:51.4

The CDC says there were more deaths from guns than car crashes in 2020,

0:55.8

and the number has only risen since. One major gun control group found that an average of

1:01.2

350 children a year find a gun and shoot themselves. It's a tragedy that's happening all over the

1:07.4

country. Sheriff Mike Chitwood says a curious toddler killed himself with his father's gun.

1:13.2

This 9mm the child found in the master bedroom nightstand loaded.

1:17.6

Night family and friends are remembering a kindergartner who accidentally shot and killed himself.

1:21.6

We're learning a three-year-old was found, found a gun and shot himself.

1:37.1

But one potential solution has started to gain steam, smart guns, handguns that are designed to work only in the hands of the registered owner.

1:40.8

Yeah, so BioFire is building a smart gun.

1:53.0

That's Kai Klepfer, the founder and CEO of Biofire, a startup that plans to start selling the first consumer smart gun in December. They say their handgun is equipped with tech that makes it impossible for anyone except the rightful owner to pull the trigger.

2:01.6

Basically, he's a handgun with the built-in biometrics, in this case, fingerprint, facial

2:06.0

recognition, which is always locked by default. It unlocks automatically when the owner or some

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