On February 19 Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) said he will soon push legislation requiring smart-gun technology for all handguns, and he cited “the most recent James Bond” movie to demonstrate how the technology works.

The legislation is called The Handgun Trigger Safety Act of 2014, and the press release from Markey’s office introduces it thus:

In the most recent James Bond film, Bond escapes death when his handgun, which is equipped with technology that recognizes him as its owner, became inoperable when it gets into the wrong hands. This technology, however, isn’t just for the movies – it’s reality.

Markey’s press release then goes on to describe how “personalization technology allows the purchaser of a gun to designate authorized user(s) who can operate [it].” He claims this would take away a criminal’s ability to steal and use a stolen gun and would also “prevent small children who accidentally find a handgun from firing it.”

Boston Magazine reported that Markey delivered further comments on this legislation in Roxbury, in Boston, on February 19. Speaking to residents and flanked by gun control proponents, Markey outlined various types of smart gun technologies, including technology that makes a gun inoperable unless the user is wearing a watch synced with the gun via a radio signal. 

Markey did not explain what would happen if someone stole the watch and the gun, or the wristband and gun that other smart gun proponents have mentioned. 

On April 25, Breitbart News reported that the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Lawrence Keane put his finger on the inherent problem with such technology by pointing out that if Adam Lanza’s mother had a watch or wristband to make her gun operable, “[Adam Lanza] presumably would have had access to that [too].”

Other types of “smart gun” technology pose different kinds of problems. For example, what happens when a gun programmed to fire only when in the hands of a father or mother proves useless to a 17-year-old son who retrieves it under duress after a burglar has killed his parents?

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.