The Orlando shooting yesterday really got into my heart. I love this city and I feel totally heartbroken about not being able to prevent this kinds of things from happening again.
Difficult access to mental health care, a historic overdose of segregation and hatred towards different races, sexual orientations and people from other places plus the easy access to weapons makes these kind of horrors unreasonably common in the U.S.
It’s a Deadly cocktail and this will continue to happen until these issues are resolved.
Healthcare, education, tolerance, gun control.
Healthcare, education, tolerance, gun control.
Healthcare, education, tolerance, gun control.
I can’t say this enough.
But the thing is, these are gridlock issues in this country. Opinions are incredibly divided on something that should be so evident.
And day after day mass shootings occur and NOTHING have been done law-wise to prevent these things from happening again.
Politics might take a lot longer and we need an urgent solution. At least a start.
So instead of solving this through politics why don’t we try to solve it through capitalism? Using the very same tool that’s so effective in creating new ways of thinking in this country: marketing and money.
Technology can help us live the best version of lives. And here’s my proposal on how tech can help solve the mass shootings that are so common in this country:
(Keep in mind this is a draft idea, it has many holes and it needs a lot of work)
A Bluetooth-LE-beacon-enabled trigger lock. A remote lock switch in every smartphone (at the OS level).
Imagine the full vision of this:
A criminal comes to do a mass shooting anywhere and while he pulls his gun out, someone, nearby, any person with a smartphone taps the “911 button” which automatically sends a signal to police in the area (sharing the location of the phone) and sends a bluetooth signal that locks all weapons (except the Police’s) for X minutes (Say: 45)and immediately de-escalates the situation.
No more shots fired, criminal lose his/her control, no more mass shootings. The police comes, arrests the criminal, done.
This 911 button would be by default on every Android and iOS device.
It’ll help avoid hostage situations, it’ll make the police control a scene much more quickly and safely.
In the ideal scenario this lock would be on every weapon, and every smartphone would have 911 button on it.
That won’t be the case for a long while but in the meantime as long as it helps prevent one shooting, its value could be immense.
It won’t be done immediately, it won’t prevent every mass shooting, but it needs to prevent just one to be a positive factor.
The market would change its perception over time and it will consider people who don’t have these kind of locks on their guns irresponsible. If you’re a responsible gun owner you need to have the remote lock.
And then there could be a law that requires this kind of device on every weapon.
There are a few downsides for sure, but I think most of them are manageable:
What if the guns runs out of battery? It locks, and won’t work until recharged.
What if the criminal is the one triggering this to prevent gun owners in the house to stop him and he comes with a knife? The push of the button also makes a 911 call and sends a location, police will be there investigating soon.
What if kids start pushing it just for fun? They can call 911 just for fun now, so use the same solutions already being used for that. If the call comes from a gathering place (clubs, schools, malls, etc) there will be other calls coming from the same place.
This could prevent “heroes” from taking down the criminals and defend themselves. In a civilized society no heroes are needed, police takes care of the threats. This will immediately de-escalate the situation by removing the killing power from anyone in the area. A guy with a knife is much lesser threat than a guy with an AR15.
Current gun owners won’t add the lock and they are in advantage. You could add one to yours if you’d like but anyway, again, it just needs to prevent one to become useful. It won’t prevent every mass shooting, but it will make a difference where it does.
This is NOT an ideal or universal solution. It solves the consequences, not the causes.
It doesn’t address mental issues or access to mental health care, it doesn’t promote a culture of tolerance, respect and peace. It might even delay gun controls furthermore. But there have been no progress to solve this problem in years, and this could be the next best thing in a very American way: with tech, marketing and money.
The more I think about it, the more I think this could really make a difference. It gives people the power to prevent these horror scenarios from happening.
There are technical issues to address. Bluetooth beacons just detect devices, don’t receive commands and I’m not so familiar with Bluetooth technology to figure out a way of solving this yet.
But the idea is there, it could be a cheap product to sell and it could make a HUGE difference by preventing many mass shootings.
It doesn’t have to solve every threat, it doesn’t have to be perfect or immediate. It just needs to start making a difference and grow from there.
Let’s build this.
If you’re an investor or have the technical abilities to help make this a reality: get in touch
