A video clip, shared gleefully by Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-CA), tries to show the public that gun manufacturers are irresponsible obstructionists for not incorporating more safety technology into their products. But, like virtually all of her colleagues in Congress, she clearly doesn’t know enough about the topic to know that all she did was manage to prove herself wrong.
Weapons shouldn't have fewer safety features than cell phones. Today, I asked firearm manufacturers why they won't put fingerprint scanners on all their guns, which could prevent up to 40% of accidental deaths. pic.twitter.com/q1p0Mrg5oh
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) July 27, 2022
(You can also find the video here if she figures this out and deletes it, or view the whole hearing here.)
California Rep. Katie Porter is in the process of grills Christopher Killoy, the president and CEO of Sturm Ruger. She tries to make the killer point that smartphones come with fingerprint locking technology. And cell phones are supposedly not as dangerous as guns.
She reasons, therefore, that firearms should come with fingerprint locks also to prevent their unauthorized use. Rep. Porter then tries to get Marty Daniel, the head of Daniel Defense to commit to adding fingerprint scanners to his company’s guns.
Like so many of her fellow Democrats, however, she doesn’t seem to b e aware that this was an epic self-own.
First off, she struggled briefly to unlock her phone during her little demonstration. On the first try, the phone did not unlock. It only unlocked on the second try.
That clearly demonstrates what Mr. Killoy was trying to explain, that fingerprint scanning technology is too unreliable to be used on something as critical as a weapon you’d use to defend your life. And, that’s before considering what dehydration, sweating, and injuries can do to your finger’s ability to produce a clean scannable image.
The Honorable Member from the Golden State is also oblivious to the potential for malfunctions in the even the gun is dropped, gets wet, or experiences other extreme conditions.
Then Rep. Porter unleashed this whopper . . .
These fingerprint scanners are offered in some firearms. Some manufacturers sell this and they work. Your company and Mr. Daniel’s company chooses (sic) not to.
That, of course, is a blatant lie.
Sorry, Congresswoman, but there aren’t any manufacturers selling firearms with fingerprint scanners now. Not anywhere.
There has been lots of hype, plenty of promises and some balky prototypes, but the lack of reliable performance in testing (which Rep. Porter partially demonstrated) and the lack of interest among buyers (as Mr. Daniel mentions) have kept “smart guns” from being marketed anywhere in the world as of this writing. Lying about it doesn’t make it so.
The CEO of a major gun manufacturer said he’s unwilling to add safety features to his company’s guns because “customers are not interested.” That puts us all at risk. That’s like saying Americans should get to buy faulty appliances even if they’ll burn down the house next door. pic.twitter.com/O4e74C3XKo
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) July 27, 2022
Finally, we need to keep in mind that the government cannot and does not mandate that people use biometric locks or any other kind of security on their cell phones. In fact, three-letter agencies would very much prefer that our phones have no security at all so they can rifle through our data whenever they choose.
Feds aren’t about to require that people lock their phones. So, it’s beyond silly to act like it’s a great idea for government to mandate fingerprint scanning on any machine, let alone one on which millions of people rely on to protect their lives.
If Rep. Porter had known her ass from her elbow — about either smartphones or guns — she’d know that she only managed to defeat her own supposed argument the other day. Sadly, she’s too ignorant to see it.