Previous Post
Next Post

Gun Geo Marker, c GGM

Apparently outing gun owners like they were sex offenders is in vogue these days. A new app just released on the Android market is seeking to “crowd source” the pinpointing of “dangerous guns” and their owners. The site didn’t specify what they consider to be “dangerous” guns, but judging by the AR-15 in the logo it looks like they assume anything that Dianne Feinstein believes fits the bill of an “assault weapon” should be reported. Make the jump for the app’s description.

Geolocate Dangerous Guns and Owners with the Gun Geo Marker. Geolocation means marking dangerous sites on the App’s map so that you and others can be aware of the risks in your neighborhood.

The Gun Geo Marker operates very simply, letting parents and community members mark, or geolocate, sites associated with potentially unsafe guns and gun owners. These locations are typically the homes or businesses of suspected unsafe gun owners, but might also be public lands or other locations where guns are not handled safely, or situations where proper rights to own or use any particular type of firearm may not exist. Electronically marking these locations can help others in the area learn about their geography of risk from gun accidents or violence. No matter what your safety concern with firearms might be, you should feel free to use this tool to provide the most accurate information you can such that others can make their own safety decisions.

As a crowd sourced information tool, the information about dangerous gun sites comes from users. Please follow us at http://www.gungeomarker.org, https://twitter.com/gungeomarker and https://www.facebook.com/GunGeoMarker.

Previous Post
Next Post

170 COMMENTS

    • “suspected”

      Code for “I don’t like this guy’s looks and I think he perhaps, maybe, possibly has guns. Or a picture of a gun.

      Time to show ’em what else can be done with it: report the address of your local police station.

      • Well, don’t the Brady bunch have home addresses too? And all the anti’s we know? The information that gets fed into it doesn’t need to be accurate, does it?

        • By the way, it looks like this has been seen at 4chan as well, and some were suggesting to just flood it with nonsense data.

        • @Ron Burgundy

          Flooding it with non-sense data is EXACTLY what gun owners should do. Mark every gun free zone, every police station, every mall, every school etc. The dumber, the better making it completely useless.

        • Don’t forget to mark both the White House and the Vice President’s office. (in case he brings his shotgun to work)

        • Every gun grabbing politician’s addresse(s) should be entered into the data base immediately.

          Then every prolific gun grabber advocate should be subject to the same fate.

        • Every patrol cruiser parked in the driveway should be marked. Address of every known police officer, deputy, etc should have a big flashing icon.

    • I’m waiting for the “Joe Biden Double Barrel Shotgun Scary Black Rifles are Evil Sound App”, with all the coolest phrases like “just fire off two blasts outside the house” and “Buy a shotgun, buy a shotgun” and dont forget this gem “you don’t need an AR-15, it’s harder to aim, it’s harder to use, and in fact you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself”.

      • WHo decides and HOW is it decided who the irresponsible gun owners are?

        Who decides what safe gun handling is?

        This app could be misused by people who do not know what safe firearms handling is, creating chaos for responsible gun owners. DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT THAT?

        • This app could be misused by people who do not know what safe firearms handling is, creating chaos for responsible gun owners. DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT THAT?

          YES, I CARE ABOUT THAT! AND… since UCSD doesn’t think it is a joke, I can’t afford to either, as it is too easily misused, as comments here, in the Google Play Store, and on their web pages all too clearly show.

          EVERYTHING after the point I said “from their FB page,” is from their FB page, and not a word from me.

      • UCSD?

        So I wonder if this person is feeding from the government stocked trough to do this or if he’s paying his own way. Odds are our taxes are supporting this stupid exercise in one way or another.

        At least the site exposes another avenue people with a grabber mindset will exploit to demonize gun owners and their firearms, not that it’s particularly surprising.

    • I wouldn’t be surprised if someone discovers the identity of the person who wrote this software and posted their location on this tool as a gun owner.

        • Here you go.

          Registrant Name:Brett Stalbaum
          Registrant Organization:University of California San Diego
          Registrant Street1:9500 Gillman Drive 0084
          Registrant Street2:c/o Visual Arts
          Registrant Street3:
          Registrant City:La Jolla
          Registrant State/Province:California
          Registrant Postal Code:92093
          Registrant Country:US
          Registrant Email:[email protected]

    • The facetious approach seems the most efficient way to render this app useless. Besides, as I describe my neighbors’ apocalyptic arsenals of rocket launchers, anti-tank mined gardens, and laser-shark-infested pools, I am simultaneously deterring potential burglars.
      Good deed for the day: check!
      Good deed for tomorrow: check!
      Guess I get a day off.

      • *Any advice offered by SCIENCE!, despite appearances, is not to be confused with actual science, SCIENCE! is not a lawyer, although he did see “A Miracle on 34th Street” once, and can shout “I object!” in a truly righteous and resonant voice. Thus, any legal advice he gives may not be entirely legal, illegal, or even related to laws in any way. For that matter, it may not actually be advice.

        That said, probably best to only falsely report your neighbors for weapon types legal in your area.

      • Laser shark infested pools huh, we’ll as least they don’t have to settle for ill tempered mutated Seabass.

    • Well there is this:

      situations where proper rights to own or use any particular type of firearm may not exist.

      So does that mean all the U.S. due to NFA restrictions or just those states with “assault weapon” bans?

  1. hmm I dislike this greatly as it would seem to be a good tool for the burgalars, but if we could take crowd sourcing to the next level and fill it with random information so that any information is dilluted with crap(much like politics) it could minimize any damage.

    • I came here to say this.

      “This app pleases my libtard senses. I can locate babby killing high capacity assult clips that kill mah chilluns. Im also on welfare cuz my babby neexs food. Obama 2016 hur dur.”

      “I used this app to determine if my jogging route was safe, the app told me there were no guns nearby and I got robbed at gunpoint.”

  2. I don’t have any Android/iPhone (Windows phone here), but yes, we should get on here and mark EVERYWHERE, including schools, government buildings, universities, post offices, businesses, bars, planned parenthood locations, you name it.

  3. Another resource for robbers to target good loot
    not to mention the possible defamation suits if they list behaviors w/o evidence

    • Yep. If they identify a gun owner, a thief then uses that information to take a gun from the gun owner, and that thief subsequently kills someone with the gun, wouldn’t that open the makers of this software to some pretty severe lawsuits? Imagine if this is used to out a federal agent or a police officer. Wow, the writers of this software are playing with some serious fire. I am surprised that any mobile phone company would risk this level of liability by allowing this software to be installed on their equipment.

  4. Bottom line will be….Avoid the Ghetto!

    We all knew that. Right? Oh. You mean that the creator didn’t want to finger drug ridden inner city culture, but law abiding old, fat, white guys who don’t vote the way that the creator likes? Never mind then.

  5. Hey, good news! According to this app, there are no dangerous guns anywhere on the east side of Orlando!

    I can’t speak to the rest of the city, because you can’t pan the map. It opens centered on your location (literally a tight shot of my apartment building and the one next door), and you can zoom out (enough for me to see the entire east side of town), but you cannot move it around unless you move you around.

    That makes this app pretty funny. You can only mark a spot if you are standing there. You can’t go back and mark it later after you’ve cleared the “danger zone.” You have to stand there and fiddle with your phone while exposing yourself to the dangerous fumes of Hoppes No. 9.

    From their privacy policy:

    When marking any site, it is always the best policy to maintain as much discretion as you possibly can. Because the Walkingtools Gun Geo Marker only allows you to mark a site at which you are physically present, you must feel comfortable enough to stand in that actual location and operate the user interface, for perhaps up to a minute. If you don’t feel safe doing this discretely, then it is not feasible to mark the site and you should not attempt it.

    There is no sign-on or login process required to use the Walkingtools Gun Geo Marker, and the marks you place on the map are anonymous. To help enforce the once-per-day marking limit, the App sends a scrambled code uniquely identifying your device that is kept on our servers for approximately one day, after which it is deleted.

  6. When you mark a location, you are offered a bunch of pre-installed reasons, and then a field in which you can describe your concerns. The pre-installed reasons are:

    * Unlocked/loaded/unsafe storage
    * Insufficient training (How the hell would they know?)
    * Guns and unsupervised children (At least it’s not children and unsupervised guns)
    * Guns and substance abuse (Shouldn’t that be “Substance abuse and guns”? Unless not cleaning them counts as abuse)
    * Medical related concern (Wat?)
    * Neighborhood talk, unsafe (“My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy…”)
    * High conflict, armed neighbor (Gran Torino?)
    * Out of place, large arsenal (How many guns is an arsenal again?)
    * Documented/frequent unlawful discharge
    * Illegal weapons on premises
    * Prohibited persons
    * Anti-government/terror threat (Is this where I mark all my Muslim neighbors?)
    * Other concern (describe) (“Overzealous busybody curtain-twitching neighbors”)

  7. “Apparently outing gun owners like they were sex offenders is in vogue these days”

    At least 50% and up to about 80%+ of sexual assault and rape allegations are false. If you are ever accused then you are treated as guilty until proven innocent and the accuser is treated as a victim until proven otherwise.

    • Umm…okeedokee…just as soon as I find the “Dem/Lib Geo Marker” app in the Play Store. Hopefully that one’s already been on the market for quite awhile so that it’ll have a good-sized database to reference.

  8. Those comments on the Google Play site are hilarious.

    I really doubt an app like this would get the green light on the iOS platform. -1 for Android. +1 for Apple…as long as I don’t see an app like this on iTunes.

  9. The universe does not change nor conform to our political beliefs or sundry conceits. Building artifacts that reflect one’s bias yet ignore the truth the universe presents is a sure way of meeting a Darwinian Moment

  10. I like how nowhere on their site does it say to actually talk to the person you are concerned about. Is our culture so spineless that we can’t discuss anything except from behind a curtain of anonymity?

    • In their page on gun marking guidelines, the section about unsafe gun owners does at least list the four rules and say: “In any case, it is easy enough to determine through simple conversation if any gun owners knows the basics of gun safety: {four rules here} If a gun owner can not list these basic safety principles, or demonstrates a cavalier attitude toward gun safety, or becomes angry when you ask about it, then the location at which they store or use their guns should be marked as soon as it is feasible.”

      So that sorta indicates you should talk to your neighbors. But you’re right, they clearly don’t recommend actually talking to anyone.

      • ”or demonstrates a cavalier attitude toward gun safety, or becomes angry when you ask about it, then the location at which they store or use their guns should be marked as soon as it is feasible.”

        So that sorta indicates you should talk to your neighbors. But you’re right, they clearly don’t recommend actually talking to anyone.

        But, given that you can only mark your current location, they *do* recommend visting the actual place where the angry, unsafe gun owner uses or stores his firearms.

      • But that would mean the person asking the questions knows about guns and gun safety. Who going to test the tester?

  11. This is a lot of fun, just marked the gym with the out of place arsenal one. so many big guns there tee he.

    makes me wish I was going to be near the white house in the near future.

    we should have a contest for most creative marking of public place.

    • Yeah. All those National Guard Armories and VFW Posts with “weapons of war” out front. What were they thinking?

    • Holy crap! I like this idea.
      I also like the idea that if my house gets marked, I’ll be taking some early morning walks around my town. With only 3,000 residents, divide by 2, that’s roughly 1500 houses. I should be able to mark every house inside of a month, easy.
      Watch the crime rate go from near zero, to zero.

  12. What’s Eric Holder’s address? We could put that down for irresponsibly selling guns. Or just put down the address for the White House.

    • Speaking of Holder, you gotta check out the review from speedofix LA, which starts out…
      My name is Jorge Luis Juan Gonzaga and I am an enforcer for Los Burros Muertes, a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana BC. Since the unfortunate events of last year when our largest firearms supplier Mr. Attorney General Eric Holder was investigated by the US Congress regarding the joint business venture we had with his representatives from BATF, our supply of US made AK47 and AR15 rifles kind of dried up.

      You can see where it’s heading from there. lol

  13. i recommend reading the reviews, i think there was 1 real serious review from an actual user. the rest are hilarious. i downloaded it and i plan to mark homes with progressive propaganda displayed.

    • I think you’re right. Only ONE gave it a serious rating that wasn’t a garbage rating…. so I wasn’t the only one that noticed… making me not alone if it turns out to be pure sarcasm.

      Wait… makes sense now…. another STUPID app (their third) from “The Walkingtools Laboratory at UCSD” – University of California, San Diego.

    • Very easy to find Brett’s home address in Lakeside, CA too…took all of 30 seconds. I won’t install the app, but if there’s any way to give that one an “extra dangerous” rating….

  14. I’ll get it. And add a location a day. Every day. Guns or not. I’ll start with addresses around schools and government facilities. Every violation will be checked. Then ill move on to say, school board members, and tag them.

    Stuff that in your app and smoke it.

  15. It has a rating of only 1.8 stars (1-5 star rating range)… even the higher ratings belittle the app. Some make fun of it, some even say they marked their neighbors just because one had their car broken into, to scare off the bad guys.

    The app is a croc…. and as most comment leavers note an invasion of privacy. One even noted the only reason they gave it a 1-star rating was because they couldn’t give it a 0.

  16. They appear to be on their way to a million false positives. I will of coarse add a few more to that list.

    ***If you review the application please state that “It is a Virus”… this will keep some people from downloading it.

  17. Be sure to mark EVERY walmart and gun store.

    Also military bases, banks, museums, airports, starbucks, and police cars.

    It is a shame the app doesn’t include other WMD types like cars and knives. One can hope.

  18. I’m feeling really inspired by this app.

    I’m going to help prevent rape by developing an app that lets users arbitrarily mark the location of creepy-looking single men. I’ll also make sure that the app records other useful info, like what kind of car they drive and where it’s stored – just in case they turn out to be a rapist, so we will know how to report him if he tries to drive away.

    Why not? Same principle.

  19. I reported the app to Google on grounds of invasion of privacy. I’m really sick of this kind of thing. It’s encouraging harassment and theft. Can you imagine the $hitstorm that would occur if there was an app listing the addresses of gay couples or women that had abortions?

    Gun owners would get no such PC outrage. We’re not the statists’ chosen and anointed pet causes.

  20. I’m not against risk assessment (profiling) but then I’m not PC.
    They are on the other hand, are hypocrites.

  21. The developers website is,
    http://gungeomarker.org

    From their FAQ,

    Phone: (225) 267-7346. We will develop the F.A.Q. from there.

    Q: Why is the Android App only available in the United States?
    A: The main developer – Brett Stalbaum
    ===============================
    Hello Brett.
    I suspect you are going to get a lot of phone calls.
    I think Area Cod 225 is southern Louisiana. What town is southern Louisiana? New Orleans?
    I think we should put you on the map.
    What do you think?

    • Area code does not necessarily indicate where they are located now, just where they once were located in the past. Yay keeping cell phone numbers for years!

  22. Hmmm. Maybe it’s time I finished that Stoner Here App. You know, take a picture of someone breaking Federal Drug Laws and posting it. Wonder how much outcry of “civil rights” that would breed?

  23. Dafuq does this mean?

    These locations are typically the homes or businesses of suspected unsafe gun owners, but might also be public lands or other locations where guns are not handled safely, or situations where proper rights to own or use any particular type of firearm may not exist.

    So basically anyone using/possessing any gun anywhere? Cause you know these people do not believe in any right to bear arms whatsoever, rather they cope with it and do all they can to subvert it in the meantime.

  24. Ok who wants to download the app and put in the addresses of all the anti gun politicians, anti gun groups and msm?

  25. This is oddly similar of a time when people were asked to sell out their own in Russia if they went against the state…

  26. It has been alluded to before but how about an app to mark those courageous souls who forswear firearms? Surely people want to know where it is safe to let your children play, or grab a nice tv, whatever.

  27. The only android permissions it requires are
    a) network access
    b) location

    I still wouldn’t feel comfortable installing this on my phone. It would seem the author could identify your home/work address if they were so inclined.

  28. If everyone here, goes to their website or the app on the android market and gives it a negative review, less folks will use it.
    May I suggest a review of “Doesn’t work”?

  29. Flagged the app on Google Play, for all the good that will do.

    I think polite-but-firm emails to the authors are in order, reminding them that libel is still a tort, and that no matter what their guidelines say, they are responsible for anything bad that happens as a result of someone tagging a location.

    Might also be of interest to F.I.R.E.

  30. Great news! There are no “dangerous guns” in my area (yes, that is how it was worded). Guess I can go thank MY guns for being so well behaved.

  31. What does “…situations where proper rights to own or use any particular type of firearm may not exist.” mean? How can a right not exist?

    • There are plenty of places where firearms are prohibited. Federal Post Offices, any Federal land where it is posted, just to name a few.

  32. can we develop an app that “geo locates” houses where parents leave their underaged children unattended? You can’t make this stupid stuff up.

  33. “or situations where proper rights to own or use any particular type of firearm may not exist. Electronically marking these locations can help others…”

    Wouldn’t this be the entirety of CA, NJ, NY, CT, MA, ME, NE, and every other Slave State with draconian gun laws to-which proper, meaning ALL, Rights don’t exist

  34. Just downloaded this app. Man this is dumb. I can’t wait to tag the housing projects. (Have to be there for my job.)

  35. Apparently this isn’t on the Apple app store, because I just looked. Once available there, I will proceed to mark random addresses arbitrarily accusing them of weaponizing fire ants…

    I will make this app absolutely unusable in the greater Austin area.

  36. a few things:

    1) The rating has actually dropped since I saw this posted on TTAG….LOL! that there is hilarious! 1.8 down to 1.4

    2) If you are a computer geek, you can download the Android SDK and emulator and it will work in the emulator. Your GPS location will be your ISPs branch office. But, you can mark away (although very slow)

  37. A latest application presently released on the Android marketplace is on the lookout for to “crowd source” the investigating of “dangerous guns” and their owners. I recommend an accountable gun owners do likewise. I couldn’t delineate out how to statement it, can you do it not including downloading the app?

    I completely shore up this app. I do not support wrong or against the laws. other than this app stays me secure. There are weapons in this area.

    I’m sharing with a few friends…

    Source: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/110129796578875587642/110129796578875587642/posts/FKa6VMoTLfZ

    Thanks,
    Gun Holsters Unlimited

    • I’m confused. I’ve seen your webpage before, and you speak normal English. Did you run this through Google Translate to a foreign language and then back again?

      In any case, no, you don’t have to download the app to report it as abusive or whatever. Just scroll to the bottom of the Google Play page.

  38. I’m think’n that I may need to send Brett a “thank you” email. Most fun I’ve seen TTAGers have here in a long time. 😉

  39. Can I geotag ATF headquarters? Bloomberg’s mansion (any of them)? Can I place a geotag on Chicago?

    The answer is to use the hell out of the system! 😉

  40. You know this, but I grew up in the Soviet Block.

    Technology has changed the mode of operation, but this technique is very familiar to me.

    • It must be chilling to see history repeat itself in front of your own eyes.

      Well let’s abuse this particular mode of operation until it becomes less than useless for its intended purpose.

  41. A latest application presently released on the Android marketplace is on the lookout for to “crowd source” the investigating of “dangerous guns” and their owners. I recommend an accountable gun owners do likewise. I couldn’t delineate out how to statement it, can you do it not including downloading the app?

    I completely shore up this app. I do not support wrong or against the laws. other than this app stays me secure. There are weapons in this area.

    I’m sharing with a few friends…

    Thanks,
    Gun Holsters Unlimited

  42. I don’t have an Android phone, but if I did, I would have a field day with this app. For one, the report I left on my own address would make you fall over laughing. On top of that, I might just report nuclear warheads in the backyards of my neighbors.

    Please do great things with (and to) this app, my friends.

  43. Please take a moment to read the couple of reviews that gave the app 5 stars, they are hilarious!

    And they really are worth the read. Sarcasm at its finest!

  44. And this could be used by criminals to go on a shopping spree for firearms…what a stupid idea. They should be held responsible for stolen guns logged in their system.

  45. Just checked this app this morning, apparently 3 of my neighbors have phased plasma rifles in the 40 watt range.

    Someone beat me it then.

  46. This app. is a grievous attempt to assault the rights given us by our forefathers. I take severe umbrage by the ignorance of the person or person’s responsible for it. As a parent of an assaulted beautiful young lady, I myself am now a PROUD GUN OWNER and NRA Member. I have always been a hunter. Go ahead and put me down as a gun owner. While you’re at it put down as a granddaughter of a man who helped free Hitler’s prisoners, and took one of those prisoners as his wife. If they think that history can not repeat it’s self than they must have received failing grades. It’s a slap in the face and SHOULD be made fun of. Thank you all for making me smile today, you are all funny and awesomely real people.

    • why do these people, especially if they’re women, always have hyphenated last names?

      I know the answer but I want to hear someone out.

      • As it was explained to me by someone with a hyphenated last name, she did not want to “surrender her identity” by taking her husband’s last name as her own. I pointed out that she did just that by adding his name to hers, thus muddling her identity, and asked why she didn’t just keep her last name as it was. She got pissed off and walked away.

        • Bet they’d love my wife. She not only took my last name as her own, she was thrilled to get a concealed carry pistol for Christmas. Someone better geotag her as a dangerous right wing terrorista.

  47. Okay everyone needs to get this and list every anti-gun person they know! Start with the politicians. I’m in New York so hello Mayor Bloomberg and the entire city council. Oh Governor Cuomo you’re on the list too!

  48. Well, turn-about is fair play, now isn’t it?:

    http://gungeomarker.org/

    He/they want to out gun owners? Ok. I’ll out him/them:

    Whois info for this butt-tard’s domain:

    Registrant Name:Brett Stalbaum
    Registrant Organization:University of California San Diego
    Registrant Street1:9500 Gillman Drive 0084
    Registrant Street2:c/o Visual Arts
    Registrant City:La Jolla
    Registrant State/Province:California
    Registrant Postal Code:92093
    Registrant Country:US
    Registrant Phone:+1.2252677346
    Registrant Email: [email protected]

    And here is the Google Map to where he registered the domain:
    http://goo.gl/maps/SvrPW

    Do what you want, with that info. 🙂

  49. I had a roommate who had a boyfriend that was a drug dealer. We became roommates while they were broken up. 3 months later they got back together. Within 2 weeks of them getting back together the cops tracked a package to my house that contained over 100 grand worth of weed with his name on it.

    I was forced to move out of my own for fear that those he got it from to sell would come looking for it. They did, my home was ransacked, burglarized, and trashed. I stayed away for 5 months. Finally I’ve moved back in and come to find now there is an app where she can target my house a place for people to come rob it of the firearms I own. She blames for the reason he was arrested because I knew it was his and I wasn’t going to get in trouble for something I’ve never touched. She calls me a snitch a bitch and more.

    I wouldn’t put it past her to mark my home and now again I’m scared. I’m afraid that I will have to use the firearms I own to protect me something I never wanted to happen but in the face of danger I know I will. This app may very well be the cause of someone’s death not only in the my home but in homes across the nation. Simply because now the criminals know where they may be able to steal firearms and then they may be met with those firearms pointed at their chests. This is wrong for everyone.

    Even those who don’t own guns, someone can target your home and you might have someone finding your address and breaking into your home because they believed you had firearms.

    Congrats Gun Geo Marker and Walkingtools on making tools that can easily be used in malice against law abiding gun owners. Leave it up to the courts and stay out of it.

  50. Report the United States Park Police… They can’t keep track of their guns sounds like they are unsafe gun owners.

  51. Please publicize his info. He is a professor at UCSD, so its easy to figure out his county of residence. From San Diego county records:

    Brett Stalbaum
    j/t Paula Poole Stalbaum
    1016 Stage Coach Trl
    Julian, CA 92036
    707-224-2620

  52. In other news, Gun Geo Marker finally got its first flag on the east side of Orlando! Unfortunately, the detail text (“Go fvck yourself.”) did not provide me with enough detail to appropriately protect myself and loved ones.

  53. If every gun owner enteres as many fake ‘Sightings’ as possible in 1 hour, the entire database would be corrupted and useless… Hit the copy and paste button and shut them down.

    • Y’know, with this many people exhibiting such abysmal reading comprehension, it’s no wonder our country is in the state it’s in.

      One more time, try and keep up: One report per day limit.

  54. UPDATE: The makers of this app are now saying it’s a social experiment. Here’s a screenshot of what pops up on my phone when I open it now: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bhcxb3f0v9xkove/2013-07-17%2001.35.33.png

    And the new description from their Google Play page:

    What is the Gun Geo Marker? You want to read this first, just so you know what is going on. Don’t be too disappointed once you have worked it out.
    It is two things. First, it is a speculative design experiment “in the wild” that is to suss out what the parameters of a successful gun safety app might be. For example, the experiment showed that there is great potential for “local use only” mapping applications, or using GPS to constrain use of mapping interfaces only to the place in which one stands. This has applications for public data of a sensitive nature as it disallows arbitrary global browsing, keeping all information into its local context. Also, the ontology for marking dangerous guns owners feels like an excellent start. An aspect of the project which did not work – nor did I expect it to in this particular case – was the use of anonymous marking of sites. Simply stated, the project suffered numerous hacking attacks that filled the database with false info, not to mention that anti-gun-safety types have also used the app itself as a tool for mischief. It is both sad to see, but also something that I grudgingly admit I have a certain level of respect for as an electronic activist myself. The issues of hacking and intentionally false data might be solved by an organization with sufficient resources through using authentication and some type of verification regimen to ensure the data is of high quality.
    Secondly, the App was a honeypot. As a gun owner myself, I am all too aware of a smaller component of the community that sees any attempt at improving gun safety as an affront to their second amendment rights. Reasonable regulations that do not interfere with anyone’s second amendment rights – such as universal background checks and trigger locks when guns are unattended in the presence of children – are needed to help abate the gun violence epidemic in this country. But some places in the United States seem committed to going in the opposite direction, as in Florida where a law was passed preventing medical doctors from asking about gun safety in the home as they might about swimming pool safety. So, the project is also a culture-jamming exercise intended to draw out earnest expressions from the radical anti-gun-safety community, expressions that will now become part of a second phase of the project which involves aesthetic manifestations. The app itself will remain online for a time so that people can play with the user interface, after which it will morph into a purely “documentation” application about the project.
    Brett Stalbaum

  55. This seems fine to me, but the creators should realize that this will leave them open to charges of slander and libel, which they will probably lose.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here