Stupid guns are coming... ready or not.

Sixty people crowded last week into a small room at the Bayonne police firing range to witness smart gun technology. Donald B. Sebastian, senior vice president of research and development at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), stood near an oversized screen displaying a real-time video of an NJIT policeman shooting an experimental handgun in an adjacent indoor range. Although there was no applause as shots rang out, the action demonstrated that smart gun knew friend from foe.

Twenty electronic computerized sensors embedded in the gun's grip distinguished known from unknown users. "We've only just begun and we're pleased to say that we're getting 90 percent reliability when scanning users," said Sebastian.

Remember, what's driving this research is simple: as soon as a viable "smart" gun is available, existing law in New Jersey will forbid the sale of "non-smart" guns to anyone... except police officers, who might need a gun that fires 100% of the time, rather than 90%.

Personally... any gun that doesn't fire when I tell it to isn't smart. It's stupid.

And legislation modeled on the New Jersey law will be introduced into the 108th Congress.