There is an idea for a semiconductor application that has been kicked around for years, but has not yet found its market. It’s the notion of using RFID chips to prevent guns from being used by anyone except their owners.

If you look back over the past year alone you will find that a number of killings have resulted from the killer appropriating someone else’s gun. It’s not unusual for a killer to shoot a police officer with another officer’s gun, or even that officer’s own gun. The school shootings that are becoming increasingly frequent in the US are often committed by a child using a parent’s gun. Firearms stolen from homes and cars are often used in gang violence. If a gun would be useful only to its owner these deaths might be avoided.

Fellow Forbes blogger Larry Bell gives some interesting statistics from a Department of Justice survey of prison inmates in his post: Disarming Realities: As Gun Sales Soar, Gun Crimes Plummet. The survey found that 37% of inmates used a family member’s gun and another 40% obtained their weapon from an illegal source. Some of these crimes may have been avoided if firearms could be operated exclusively by their owners.

There are lots of ideas of how to prevent unauthorized gun use, and in fact there is even a Wikipedia page that describes a few of them. Of course, there’s the obvious solution of keeping guns in a safe. Gun safes do a lot to prevent theft or misappropriation by a family member. Some companies have worked out ways to add biometric sensors to weapons to prevent their unauthorized use. These are based on fingerprint recognition, grip recognition, or more exotic approaches. The trouble is: it takes time to positively identify biometric inputs, and those who buy a gun for safety worry that a delay might cost them their life.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimhandy/2013/12/31/is-it-time-to-put-chips-in-guns/

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Lakim Faust dressed himself in black one Friday in June, grabbed a pistol-grip shotgun and 100 rounds of ammunition and walked out the door of his apartment in Greenville, N.C. with one intention - to shoot and kill a large number of people.

The 23-year-old gunman shot his first victim, an insurance adjuster sitting in a parked car, before calmly walking across the street and shooting three others in a Wal-Mart parking lot, according to local police reports. Eventually the police shot and subdued the gunman.

Because no one died in the rampage, this incident was not classified as a mass killing and likely would have escaped deeper scrutiny. But after last year's attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., killed 20 students and six staff members, the FBI began studying events like these to develop new ways to respond and save lives.

Active shooters are defined by the FBI as gunmen who arrive on the scene with the specific intent to commit mass murder. Unlike other mass killings or mass shootings, this sub-set does not include incidents such as bank robberies or drug deals that may turn lethal.

https://www.redding.com/news/2013/dec/13/active-shooter-incidents-rising-nationwide/

SACRAMENTO -- Gun registration had always seemed like the “line in the sand” — a proposal that would so offend the nation’s gun-rights advocates that they would bring out their full political muscle to stop it. Yet a California law mandating government record-keeping for all new long-gun purchases goes into effect on Jan. 1 and few people even seem to know about it.

This year, gun owners were relieved that Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the toughest gun-control measures that came to his desk, including one that would have banned sales of almost all semi-automatic rifles. But back in 2011, after much debate, the governor signed the registration law, AB 809, with a 2014 start date. It’s far broader than any of the bills the governor dealt with in the last session.

Supporters claim it’s not exactly registration, in that the law calls for the state to retain background-check records of those who purchase guns and does not register specific guns to specific people. Opponents say that’s just semantics. The main element of registration is that the government can track legal gun owners. In this case the department will have a list of every owner and the specific guns each person buys. The state already tracks the purchases of handguns and “assault weapons.”

The new law will bolster a program that has generated much controversy. Earlier this month, legislators held hearings on the effectiveness of the Armed Prohibited Persons System, used to confiscate the firearms of California residents who are no longer eligible to own them. The California Department of Justice relies on the current ownership lists to identify gun owners and cross check those with lists of people who have been convicted of crimes or have been involuntarily committed for mental issues.

http://reason.com/archives/2014/01/03/california-gun-law-paves-the-way-for-con

Kenzo Dix rests at the top of a beautiful hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay. As the sun falls, the scene is tranquil.

It’s a late summer evening, and his father has come to visit, bearing flowers and words that are spoken only in his heart. It’s been a few months since Griffin Dix was last here, and he takes time to wipe the blades of grass and dirt from his son’s flat grave marker.

Nearly 20 years ago, Kenzo, a freshman at Berkeley High School in northern California, was buried here at Sunset Memorial Garden, the victim of a gun accident. His father lives in Kensington, within walking distance of the graveyard, but his visits have become less frequent over the years.

“We loved Kenzo very, very much,” Dix said.

http://www.timesherald.com/general-news/20140102/after-sons-fatal-accident-father-fights-to-make-weapons-safer

A new Illinois law requires private sellers of guns to verify that the buyers' gun permits are valid, but a State Police website for the verification process was not yet working as of New Year's Eve.

The law, in effect on New Year's Day, requires that all private firearm transactions in Illinois must be approved by State Police. Any non-federally licensed firearm dealer who sells or transfers a gun is required to contact ISP and provide the buyer's Firearm Owner's Identification Card number. The State Police will then determine the validity of the FOID card and issue a sale-approval number, which is valid for 30 days.

The seller is allowed to transfer the gun to the buyer after obtaining the approval number and waiting 24 hours for a rifle or shotgun or 72 hours for a handgun.

A sale-approval number can be requested around-the-clock through a page on the ISP website, at http://www.isp.state.il.us/foid/foidp2p.cfm, or during normal business hours by calling 217-524-3847.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/01/new-illinois-gun-laws-in-2014_n_4524967.html