US company debuts first fingerprint activated ‘smart gun’

The world’s first ‘smart gun’ has hit the market, with its producers saying the firearm can prevent accidental shootings involving children.

The Biofire Smart Gun uses a fingerprint sensor and facial recognition technology to only allow authorized users to fire the weapon. 

Biofire founder Kai Kloepfer said he was inspired to develop the weapon by the Aurora, Colo., theater mass shooting in 2012.

“At the time it was the worst mass shooting in history and it happened right down the road here from where I grew up,” he told Bloomberg. “That was one of my first encounters with (gun violence). And it really got me to think, ‘How can I do something about this?’”

After 10 years in development, the spy gadget-esque 9mm weapon is available for pre-order this week at a cost of $1,500.

Kloepfer said that the weapon can be key to reducing or even eliminating accidental shootings involving children. Firearms are now the leading cause of death for young people in America between accidental shootings and suicide.

“The key thing we are trying to solve, which I think we can completely solve, is children and teenagers getting access to firearms,” he said. “I’ve never talked to a gun owner who wanted their kid to find their gun.”

A Pew Center report found that gun deaths of children increased by 50 percent since 2019.