The idea of a gun being truly safe might sound ironic, but the truth is that the majority of handguns on sale can be picked up by anyone of almost any age and fired with little to no barriers preventing them.
That person could be a young child, criminal or legitimate gun owner, however the problem is that all three have an equal chance of firing that gun and therein lies the problem.
This is where the Veri-Fire Guardian comes in, it's a clip-on fingerprint reader that will physically covers the trigger until the right person's fingerprint is recognised.
Created by a group of veterans in the US, the Guardian was created after the team realised that out of the 19 million handguns registered in the US, 6 million of those are in households with young children.
For whatever reason, many of these handguns are not stored securely leading to countless incidents, some fatal, taking place across the country.
Guardian Live Fire Test from Veri-Fire on Vimeo.
The Guardian is a lightweight attachment that can clip onto most popular handguns. Once attached it uses a spring-loaded cover guard to physically block access to the trigger.
Able to register up to five fingerprints, the Guardian then immediately retracts the guard upon detecting a verified user.
It's an effortlessly simple idea that has been combined with a newly affordable technology (fingerprint scanners). Whether you agree with gun ownership at all, the fact is that it is legal and if it can be made safer, then it should.