I was contacted by a reporter at Gothamist and was briefly quoted in her article, “NY lawmakers pressing for study of so-called ‘smart’ handgun technology“:
“When New York lawmakers return to Albany next week for the 2024 session, gun safety will once again be on the agenda as the Democratic-controlled state Legislature continues searching for ways to regulate a firearms industry the U.S. Congress has largely steered clear of for years. One bill asks the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services to study the possibility of equipping guns with technology to block unauthorized users from pulling the trigger … Jacob Rieper, former legislative director for the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, said he doesn’t expect either law to take effect. The technologies may sound good to lawmakers on paper, but they won’t actually work, he said. Rieper said gun companies have tested various technologies over the past 50 years, without success. He also said adding extra parts to guns makes them less reliable — a tradeoff he doesn’t think most gun companies would be willing to stomach. “Why would you want to make your product less reliable? Who would want to buy that?” Rieper said. “That’s not something you can sell.” …”