Dept of Bad Ideas

Gun grabbers are already fighting to introduce serial number-stamped bullets and fingerprint controlled firearms amongst their other hoplophobic tactics. Well, here another bad idea for your consideration.

The way to make firearms really safe, says Hebert Meyerle of Germany, is to password-protect the ammunition itself.

Meyerle is patenting a design for a modified cartridge that would be fired by a burst of high-frequency radio energy. But the energy would only ignite the charge if a solid-state switch within the cartridge had been activated. This would only happen if a password entered into the gun using a tiny keypad matched one stored in the cartridge.

You see, guns aren't as safe as this chap thinks they could be because someone might steal your ammunition and use it in another weapon.

The system would undoubtedly cost more than a conventional gun, but many firearm enthusiasts would surely pay a premium for such added security.

Of course, consumers just love to see the product they buy rendered incredible expensive and possibly more unreliable by the addition of electronics to appease some hoplophobe's unwarranted fears. Yep, the added security of knowing that your ammunition couldn't be stolen and used by someone else is such a pressing concern of so many gun owners I'm surprised no one has thought of this before.

The scary thing is that some gun grabbers will probably read this and think that it's a great idea.