You may not think of firearms as a high-tech piece of equipment, but they have always contained detailed elements of engineering. This latest effort to track the usage of weapons has truly raised the bar, with integrated blockchain technology making its way to the firearm industry.
Justifire, a Georgia-based gun appliance manufacturer, has just received a patent that will allow it to exclusively create what it terms a “black box for guns” — a way to capture data around any event that requires lethal force. A few of the things that will be captured include audio and visual data that could eventually help public defenders and individuals who are in a dangerous encounter.
Here’s what you need to know about this fascinating new option for gun owners.
What is Blockchain?
If you’re not familiar with it, blockchain is considered an un-hackable method for capturing data. In the simplest sense, blockchain is a series of “nodes”, or blocks of information, that are encrypted and stored across a wide network. Each node in the network always has the same information, and confirms it with all the other nodes each time a new piece of information has been written. The system is considered extremely secure, because to make changes, a cybercriminal would need to simultaneously hack each node on the network — considered a near-impossible task in today’s computing world.
How Blockchain Relates to Firearms
There are ongoing challenges for gun owners to be able to track their weapon activity. The new system from Justifire includes two SD memory cards that are mounted directly into the firearm so they can store information about the physical world around the weapon as it’s being used. The blockchain addition is meant to help firearm owners and operators recreate any events that might have led to discharging their firearm, an important aspect for legal questions should they arise.
“Justifire uses a combination of autonomous sensors to capture every aspect of any given situation”, according to Justifire CEO Jason Palazzolo.
History of Blockchain and Firearms
As far back as 2017, lawmakers in Arizona were attempting to bring blockchain into the firearms conversation. This was a slightly different situation, however, as the state representatives were attempting to block the use of blockchain technology for everyone except law enforcement or other exempt entities. It’s unclear why this felt like such a threat that lawmakers needed to legislate around it before it was even a functioning system, however. Arizona has been a leader among the states in recognizing high-tech options such as blockchain as a way to gain control or location of firearms and other items.
Whether or not you’re a fan of blockchain tracking for firearms, it’s only a matter of time before this type of technology is introduced to the market and becomes a way of life. While it can provide law-abiding gun owners with a way out of a sticky legal situation, it might also be utilized to track the existence and use of firearms in the future.
