After watching another one of those "Future Guns" shows and seeing their idea of "Smart Guns" which can't fire unless a wristwatch is close to the grip, I felt motivated to post this. So, here's my idea for a "Smart Gun". Hint: It does not involve controlling when the gun can fire.

If you own a gun, you are probably concerned about defending yourself and your family from violent criminals. That's all good, but if you ever have to use that gun for protection, you just might find yourself being threatened by the judicial system afterwards. In some areas, there is a serious danger that politically-motivated anti-gun District Attorneys could get ahold of your case and go after you with a vengance, with an essentially unlimited supply of your tax money. The police have had problems with this for some time, and one of their greatest tools in the court is the dashcam, which often records enough of an encounter to make it obvious that the officer acted in self-defense. What if you could have a version of that? How about the GunCam?

It would be a mini-video camera attached to your gun somehow, possibly in the recoil spring guide rod, or on the dust cover. The camera would activate when the gun was drawn from a holster and film continuously. If the gun was fired, the camera would stop recording 5 seconds after the last shot it fired. The camera would record into a digital memory with 30 seconds of recording capacity, recording in a loop until it was either fired, or replaced in the holster, such that the most recent 30 seconds would always be avaliable. The video provided by this camera would be invaluable in proving that you fired in legitimate self-defense. After all, lawyers and expert whitnesses are expensive.

Of course, the device and battery would be set up such that it could not possibly interfere with the firing of the gun. The device may detect being drawn from a holster with a small button that would be depressed while holstered, or perhaps a small magnet sewn into the holster. It may detect the gun firing through either some sort of accelerometer or a sensor to detect the slide cycling.

I bet anti-gunners would oppose this, saying something like it would help people get away with murder, even though the only possible purpose is to reveal the truth in a defensive shooting.

So, what do you think?

I once heard that a patent was once given to a man who invented a camera that mounted under the barrel of a gun and took stills when a shot was fired.

It doesn't seem very practical. Who would voluntarily carry that heavy mofo?

You could mount it the same as A Tactical light. I dont think it would be that heavy

I'll bet that could be done for not a rather reasonible cost in the near future. Camera minituization is going ahead full steam, they have pinhole camera's now the size of a quarter. If you can fit a laser into a guide rod soon a camera should be possible. I think you could also fit more then 30seconds onto a comprably sized flash ram, most likeley a meg or too prehaps enough for between 60-120 seconds.


I was thinking about mounting a small camera under the barrel of your long rifle with telescpoic and electronic zoom then have a small LCD or plasma screen mounted on the gun so that the scope would be closer the the barrel and you could have an electronically superimposed crosshairs that automatically ajust point of aim for range by using a built in laser or radar range finder.

Combat_Jack:

You'd be stunned to find how small a camera/storage media could be made today. I've seen (for at least the past 6 years now) pinhead cameras that literally only need a hole in a wall that is barely visible.

Mace, I like the idea BUT:

We've been (for quite some time now) in the age of technology where ANYTHING can be faked with video/audio if the person who wants to forge it has the time and patience. (I know, I deal with it every day)

While I like the concept, and feel it'd actually be pretty cool (provided it got you off the hook), I'm not sure how much longer this kind of stuff will be held up in court...

...or if it is, can you trust it when it's been handed around to different people (and even the original shooter)?

ahhh, sorry for the paranoia...

Interesting point. However, I'm pretty sure that if the police have the slightest inclination to charge you in a shooting, they will take your gun (with the video data) as evidence at the scene and keep it until after you have been acquitted (possibly much longer, depending on pro/anti gun leanings of the appropriate officials). Thus you probably wouldn't have long to fool with the video, even if you had the hardware handy. This assumes, of course, that you call the police immediately after the fight is over. Anything else looks awful suspicious, after all.

On another note, if photo/video may not be useful as evidence due to potential tampering, then what will be used? We keep hearing about how almost any witness can be made to look like an idiot on the stand. If "hard" evidence isn't so hard anymore, then what will you use to convict someone?

And as for the data size, ideally, you would want to have a much higher frame quality then most micro-cams and other digital setups. It would be helpful if you could see the evil, predatory grin on the bad guy's face, the drugged-up look in his eyes, and the model of the gun in his hand. This kind of quality would limit the recording time, even with the newest and tiniest memory chips. Of course, this kind of quality may not be available from cameras of the appropriate size, but hey, a man can dream, can't he?

Such as described in Patent #6,363,223?

That would have to be some heavy duty electronic equipment to withstand the repeated recoil of a rifle.  Especially higher caliber ones.  I doubt your average off the shelf stuff would last long.

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Graham Hawkes is selling a remote controlled rifle (the TRAP system) with automatic targeting capabilities.

U.S. Optics has a $20,000 rifle scope which combines a laser rangefinder and electronic  reticle for military sales only.

If the video capture unit can be dismounted for range time, the electronics will only need to survive one combat engagement.

I know of solid state electronics being shot out of high-velocity naval canons, so I imagine America's Finest could build such a device that can handle at least 30rnds of 556.


Edited to note my post count! :)