Home » Blogs » Behold! Autonomous Ballistics $1m “Smart Gun” Holster Thingie. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Behold! Autonomous Ballistics $1m “Smart Gun” Holster Thingie. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Robert Farago - comments No comments

I don’t know who stumped-up the prize for the Brooklyn-based Smart Gun Design Competition, but they got rooked. The winner — Autonomous Ballistics — collected one million dollars for designing a “smart gun” holster. Not a gun. A holster. Which qualifies for the prize as an accessory, but still. Anyway, here’s a closer look at the winning design and a description of how it works from brooklyneagle.com. . .

The smart holster uses fingerprint ID, RFID and voice identification to keep out everyone but the legal owner (and up to 200 other users), Cohen and Raj Kumar said. A small fingerprint reader is embedded into the wall of the holster. The beauty of their design is that you “don’t have to change your gun at all. It’s just a holster similar to the one you have except this is maneuvered so that it’s almost inherent that you put your finger [on the fingerprint reader] when you pull it out,” Cohen said.

“The holster can be tailored for every gun available in the market,” Raj Kumar told the Brooklyn Eagle. “So that makes it easily feasible for all the guns that everyone is using.”

Are we to assume that the fingerprint reader works so well — even inside the owner’s clothing — that its inventors added two other electronically based releasing systems as backup? Or is it dealer’s choice? If it’s me, it’s “Alexa let me have my gun now!”

But it isn’t me. Nor will it be. But, as the NYPD had a rep on the judging panel (which included two prominent gun control advocates), I reckon it’s only a matter of time before New York City’s finest will be carrying their leaden-triggered GLOCKs in an Autonomous Ballistics smart holster. Or not.

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Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

0 thoughts on “Behold! Autonomous Ballistics $1m “Smart Gun” Holster Thingie. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”

  1. How does a fingerprint ID work in jurisdictions that do not allow open carry? It will not work with an IWB holster, and I think the backups will be similarly disabled. Or maybe this is for police officers only….

    Reply
  2. I don’t consciously go out of my way to look for gunbusters but when I see them I ask myself if I really need what they are selling. The guy that bought my old college hang that was and is an institution around here, was a complete and total dick about posting his establishment. He did not get my business after that despite being one of the best bars in the state. I think it’s under new ownership now so I will have to go back and check the door.

    Reply
  3. This is not intended to be better than something else, it is intended to be restrictive.

    I can see NYC and other administrations making this a required purchase for handgun owners.

    Not on my dollar.

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  4. Let’s hope the holster wearer isn’t wearing gloves when The SHTF. He might be SOL.

    My guess is, anything that would delay a person’s draw for even a nanosecond would be summarily dismissed as a no-go.

    Reply
  5. Not sure about a .410 one but I really want a .44 magnum version…… Need to wait for the oil & gas industry to bounce back first though!!!

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  6. Eh, no other reason for me to buy one except just cuz…but I am not interested in this offering. All my small game and home defense needs are met by better options.

    Reply
  7. GarandThumb, John Lovell (barring the Christianity stuff, though all power to him to do what he wants,) Paul Harrell, and MrGunsnGear are my main go-tos. I really love Hickock and ForgottenWeapons/InRange, but I’d hardly call them up and coming.

    The only YouTuber I sincerely dislike is that stroke-addled idiot Nutnfancy.

    Reply
  8. I am wanting to see how the rounds are loaded into the loader. Seems that could be just as time consuming as simply loading them into the mag.

    Reply
  9. In York, a city overrun by gangs of violent thugs, one of those violent thugs knocked up some chick but got killed by another violent thug before his child was born.

    So another child has to grow up without his violent thug father. And I’m at a loss to say how that’s any worse than a child growing up WITH his violent thug father.

    Reply
  10. Great idea,

    Introduce it and all the gang bangers will be wearing “light overcoats” in the summer as a fashion statement.

    Under the overcoat will be a semiautomatic rifle with a 30 round magazine and enough extra magazines to cover at least 90 more rounds.

    It’s called asymmetrical gang banging.

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  11. So, maybe I missed it, but what caliber is this rifle in? That would be KIND of handy to know. I know its NOT .30-06 or .308, because they compare it to those… ONCE, in the next to last paragraph, they make an offhand comment about .300 Min Wag barrel heating, but never really make it clear that they’re talking about THIS rifle. But that’s the closest we get to identifying the caliber of the rifle… in a review of that rifle. Top notch reporting guys.

    Listen, if you guys are going to just straight up re-post content from Wide Open Spaces, could you at least rip off GOOD, complete articles? I guess I should be thanking you that it didn’t have some auto-play video bullshit like all your other taken-directly-from-Wide Open Spaces posts?

    This shit’s getting old. Can we get some decent content, instead of just copying posts from other blogs? If I wanted to read Wide Open Spaces I’d, ya know, just read Wide Open Spaces.

    Reply

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