There is a particular need for preventing the accidental discharge of a weapon, such as a hand weapon, by an unauthorized person.
There are many problems that can occur with the use of weapons, automatic weapons and handguns. Guns are usually provided with a "safety," which is intended to prevent an accidental discharge by inhibiting the firing of the gun when the safety button or lever is switched on. The use of a "safety lever" does not help in preventing an unauthorized individual from using another person's gun.
One example of this type of problem is when a child finds a hidden gun in his home, where its unintentional use may cause serious injury or even the death of another child. Still another example of an accidental misuse of a weapon is where a criminal wrests a police officer's gun from him and uses it on him.
Measures to prevent the unauthorized use of a handgun include many procedures or devices, such as locking up the gun in a safe place, or by using devices like trigger locks or barrel plug locks to render the gun inoperative. While these measures prevent the unauthorized use of the gun, they also hinder the use of the gun by its rightful owner since it takes time to unlock and prepare the gun for use. These mechanisms would be useless to police officers, especially in a situation that was previously described.
It is an object of this invention to provide a new method and safety system that will prevent a gun from firing unless it is being held by the gun's owner. Any other unauthorized person who has not registered with the safety device will not be able to fire the weapon.
It is another object to provide a transponder means external to the weapon, such as a finger ring, as a means for exchanging data between the intended weapon and the registered user of the weapon having the finger worn ring.
Yet, another object of this invention is to provide a method of registration of a handgun with its accompanying finger ring that provides a verifiable identification code.