Akron and several other Ohio municipal police departments have signed agreements to test technology designed to control who can use and shoot.
The Gun Safety Coalition is seeking advice on “smart guns” products, such as quick access to gun locks and safes and systems to enhance the traceability of guns.
The mayors of Akron, Lakewood, Southern Euclid, and Orange Villages in northeastern Ohio, as well as the mayors of Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Toledo, are part of the Industrial Zone Foundation's activities.
The long-term goal is for police across the country to use the technology when storing service weapons at home, and generally encourage the production of technology that makes guns safer.
"Public sector or government buyers have the ability to work with others to change the priorities of the gun industry," said Richard Gibson, the Cleveland pastor and member of the Greater Cleveland Congregation. "Our goal is to make safety, not just killing, a priority demanded by the market."
According to campaign members, government buyers account for 40% of the US gun market.
The technology that uses fingerprints or other biometrics to lock guns has been around for many years, but it has never really become popular.
In 2019, a survey of more than 1,400 gun owners conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research found that 48% of respondents had heard of using fingerprint scanning or other technologies to control who can fire a gun. Known as "smart guns". "But less than one-fifth of people may buy one.
The Gun Safety Coalition's campaign to persuade the police to try high-tech gun locks began many years ago. But one of the main concerns of critics is the reliability of the technology.
Kai Kloepfer, the inventor of a fingerprint-activated 9mm pistol called Biofire, has long stated that he took the time to convince gun owners that it is reliable before it goes on the market.
Kloepfer said after the 2019 Milwaukee Gun Safety Technology Expo: "One of the key issues we will prove with our products is reliability." "Can you integrate the electrical system into a mechanical firearm to make it as reliable as the mechanical firearm itself? ? This is an important question."
As in many cities, the Cincinnati Police Department provides basic gun locks for free at any regional headquarters. But John Cranley, the mayor of Cincinnati and co-founder of the consortium, said that more sophisticated technology is needed.
Cranley said: "If I put my phone in a restaurant, it will be locked and no one can use it." "But the guns left behind are used in the vast majority of downtown violence and the vast majority of suicides. event."
The consortium is soliciting proposals for new technologies, such as quick access to gun locks and safes, geolocation and systems to enhance the traceability of guns. The team will purchase and test some of the submitted products.
"We care about safety," Cranley said. "We need the safety of our officers. We need guns that can be used when our officers need them. But working with us, take our money, develop products, and make safer guns possible."
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz described the movement as non-partisan and focused on common sense solutions.
Kapszukiewicz said: "This has nothing to do with laws, regulations, regulations, restrictions." "This is the use of the power of the free market... to encourage the gun industry and gun buyers to act responsibly."
DiAne Boese from Metro IAF, a national faith organization, said that the consortium already includes about 30 towns and police departments from 10 states, and recruitment continues.
"We will also begin to study the largest purchaser of guns: the President of the United States," Boss said.
The RFP is open until June 1. See the full request below.
Gun Safety Coalition RFP-April 2021 by WVXU News on Scribd