The American Public Likes The Idea Of Smart Guns - But Is Not Ready For A Law Requiring Only Them To be Sold

A "smart gun" is one that has technology built into it that prevents anyone but the owner from using it. The advantage is that children can't get the gun and harm themselves or others -- and a criminal can't take the gun away from the owner and use it against him/her. Is this a good idea?

The American public thinks it is. The top chart (made with information from a recent YouGov Poll -- done between August 8th and 11th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with a margin of error of about 4 points) shows that not only does the general public think smart guns are a good idea (51% to 23%), but every single demographic group also thinks so.

But while the public likes the idea of smart guns, they aren't ready for a law requiring all guns sold to be smart guns. Note in the chart below that the percentages go way down when this is proposed (39% to 33% for the general public), and some groups actually oppose such a law. Why is this?

I believe it is because of a basic distrust in new technology that exists among most people. While technology has accomplished some marvelous things, people these days have also seen repeated times when new technology has had some "bugs" (problems that make it not work as promised) -- and a gun is not something that when you need to use it, you want a technological problem to pop up.

I think people will one day accept such a law, because the idea of a smart gun has terrific advantages. But it's not going to come until the technology has been proven beyond any possible doubt -- and that will probably take quite a while.