To start, Conway continued, some of the top venture capitalists in Silicon Valley have committed to investing in new companies and products in the gun safety sector. And, they agreed to fund the new innovation challenge, with the hope that the firearms industry can follow the example set decades ago when the auto industry adopted the seat belt and driving soon became far safer than it had ever been before.

♫ Misty water-colored memories…♬

The auto industry fought seat belts tooth and claw. One of the reasons Robert Macnamara became Sec of Defense was he was on the verge of being forced out of Ford for introducing seat belts. Every other manufacturer said "see, look! Fords are less safe than Chryslers!" The seat belt was invented in like 1812. It didn't show up in cars until 1950. The earliest mandatory seat belt law listed here is 1985.

We'll only briefly touch on airbags

And that's an industry that uses safety to sell their wares. Not so much the firearms industry. You can't buy Chinese steel-core ammo any more because Thompson Center refused to stop selling their Contender match pistol in 7.62x39 - thereby making rifle ammo "pistol ammo" which can't be armor piercing according to the NFA. Why didn't they? "Because Constitution."

We're also talking about an industry primarily driven by military and law enforcement… and wannabe companies that aren't high enough quality to sell to the military and law enforcement. Neither the Army nor the cops are going to buy a gun that needs to be within ten inches of a watch to work, which means any company that makes one is essentially robbing itself of a market.

Seat belts were adopted because the NTSA wanted them mandatory by 1973. It was another 11 years before any state agreed. If 'smart guns' became mandatory tomorrow, it'd be decades before they mattered… and 'stupid guns' would still predominate. That's the thing about guns - they're stupid simple and mechanically durable. You can still buy Enfields made by Canadians in 1918 in expectation of WWI lasting through 1925 that ended up serving the Commonwealth in the Pacific that were then sold to Egypt and used in the Yom Kippur War that were then funneled to Afghanistan for use by the Mujahideen against the USSR until Charlie Wilson finally got his Stingers in 1985. Know why they call it 30.06? 'cuz it's .30 caliber, introduced 1906. Colt 1911? Yeah. Introduced 1911. We're talking about a handgun that is literally over a hundred years old.

What's Bluetooth going to look like in 100 years?

The really dumb thing is zip guns are stupid simple to make. You need some brass tubing, a nail (or centerpunch - centerpunch is better), a block of wood, some rubber bands and some bullets. Friends of mine made .9mm parabellum zip guns in shop class in High School. I don't care how 'smart' your gun is - the bullet's gonna stay stupid for a long time to come.