Radnor, Pennsylvania company develops 'smart gun'
"Only you, or a very small group of people who you authorize, can use that gun," said Gareth Glaser, co-founder of LodeStar.
RADNOR, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- It has the technology of a smartphone, but it's a smart gun and it could soon be coming to the United States.
The personalized gun can only be fired by a verified user. The brains behind this new firearm are based right here on the Main Line.
Before operating, the user must be verified by clicking a keypad on the side of a 9mm smart gun.
Once unlocked, the smart gun is operable.
A demonstration was done this month for LodeStar's shareholders and investors. The Radnor, Pennsylvania-based start-up is hoping smart guns can prevent tragedies by using technology to authenticate the gun owner's identity.
"Only you, or a very small group of people who you authorize, can use that gun," said Gareth Glaser, co-founder of LodeStar. "We use three types of authentication on our firearm, fingerprint, pin pad and smartphone activation using my smartphone."
"That gun is useless to someone who steals it, it's not going to fire for a little 3-year-old who picks it up out of the kitchen drawer. It's not going to be good to your teen who decides to take it to school to do harm to himself or someone else."
Glaser said he believes it can save lives and that the three safeguards will ensure hackers can't remotely jam the gun.
Because of the supply chain shortage, Glaser says getting a smart gun to market may not be until early next year, but this is a giant leap in keeping firearms out of the wrong hands.
