Modern Technology and Gun Control in America
When students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school march on Washington next month I would like to be there. My wife is skeptical--why do they need another pale, stale male walking behind them?--and as she is usually right about everything, I may not ask for the time off, buy a ticket and wander around aimlessly. (But I may go...)
My wife says that instead I should do what I am best at in support of their goal--and that is using my noggin to show at a 30,000 foot level how modern technology and innovation can help address the issue of gun violence in America. (But I may go...)
The easiest (and laziest) candidate technology to propose is blockchain innovation in support of registration and chain of ownership. It is one way that could support responsible tracking of ownership and change of hands for guns that could also protect privacy and allay concerns about the Second Amendment. It could be maintained by a third party--perhaps even the NRA itself--and be called upon by law enforcement or mental health agencies following due process. But that would be after-the-fact information used (and usefully so) to solve crimes, not prevent them. (But I still might go...)
More useful perhaps would be artificial intelligence used to analyze diverse data streams to flag up those who first, should not be allowed to buy, own or possess firearms and second, use current and ongoing data streams from 911 calls, reports of dangerous behavior, etc., to alert appropriate professionals to emerging danger. This could have been key to preventing the tragedy in Florida and previous mass shootings as well.
Although artificial intelligence is vastly over-hyped, this particular goal is well within its reach. It is being used for strikingly similar tasks in healthcare, the military and (I suspect) intelligence agencies. IBM's Watson could be on the job within months.
More tactically, surveillance and inspection could be improved--drone surveillance of approaches to sensitive properties, perhaps equipped with connections to facial recognition technology, could alert security personnel to known threats. Technology now coming to market that allows us to see through walls could also see through backpacks and overcoats at a distance. Electronic sensor technology can be used to sniff out chemicals associated with firearms or explosives, trained to recognize the machine oils used to lubricate weapons or the chemicals involved in explosives.
Speaking of facial recognition technology, it has improved enough to be used in conjunction with closed circuit television camera systems, and could be employed quickly. It could have a positive list of faces known to be students and also a list of people authorities know they don't want anywhere near a school.
One advantage of these upgrades to school (and other locations) security is that they are not as obtrusive, not as 'in your face.' As we move towards a more surveilled society, it will become increasingly valuable for that surveillance to be unobtrusive. Part of the effectiveness of Big Brother watching was that it was always put in the faces of those surveilled--they could never forget it.
The other technology that should be looked at for improving school security is not at all new--RFID chips. They could be implanted in firearms new and old. Gun free zones could be equipped with systems that would ping when those chips entered the zone. There are engineering details--how to make them non-removable, for example--but if we wanted it those details could be overcome.
The mistake to avoid is thinking that there is a technological solution to gun violence. There is not. The easy availability of firearms to people who should not have access to them is a legal and societal issue that we will have to confront as a nation, if and when we ever quit hating on each other.
But because that day appears distant, technology can help us cope until it arrives.
Which is why I still might go...