New gun design uses RFID to boost safety

the handle of a firearm to authenticate its owner, is the brainchild of gun enthusiast Patrick O’Shaughnessy. A news item he’d read, about a police officer who had his gun stolen from him and used against him, inspired the concept. He and his partner Robert McNamara, after finding that biometric technology had too many shortcomings, decided RFID technology was up to the task and decided to have a go at designing a prototype and filing for a patent. There was just one small problem: getting a gun.

“We could not get our hands on a gun in Ireland,” McNamara, in his thick brogue, explained to me.

Eventually, the pair legally cleared that hurdle and ended up creating a prototype with the help of researchers at Georgia Tech Ireland, which works with the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta to commercialize technologies developed in Ireland.