A smart gun developed by Biofire will soon start shipping to customers who pre-ordered the firearm.
According to the company, the Biofire Smart Gun features built-in fingerprint and infrared facial recognition technology that permits use only by “authorized” individuals. Biofire has called it the “first and only biometric firearm on the market.”
The gun is a full-sized 9mm striker-fired semiautomatic pistol. It features 10 magazine sizes and a double-stacked 15-round magazine. The barrel is 4.7 inches long and 8.7 inches long. The gun’s total weight, unloaded, is 2.4 pounds.
“We’re actually going to be shipping the first smart guns here within the next few weeks to early customers, and that’s a huge milestone for us,” CEO Kai Kloepfer told host Maria Bartiromo on “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street” late last week. “We’re excited to get to work at fulfilling this full backlog now that we’re fully into production.”
Biofire told FOX Business on Tuesday, “Wider shipments will be fulfilled throughout the remainder of the year, with volume expected to continue to ramp up as Biofire continues to build up production capabilities.”
The company first revealed its 9mm Biofire Smart Gun about a year ago. Kloepfer told Bartiromo last week that Biofire has “found that many gun owners are struggling with the challenges of wanting to make sure they appropriately and safely secure their firearm,
ensuring their children don’t get access to it, but also have access to that in the very, very few short seconds that they might need to get access to it in some sort of home defense emergency.” With its smart gun geared toward home defense, he said Biofire is looking to help solve that.
According to the company’s website, Biofire’s smart gun only unlocks and becomes usable when it recognizes the biometric data of an “authorized” user holding it. At all other times, it automatically stays locked. The gun also features electronic fire-control technology.
Biofire started fielding pre-orders for it in April of last year and, according to Kloepfer, has racked up “thousands” since then. It and its smart dock currently have a $1,499 price tag.
