A ban on mandating smart gun purchases is advancing in Arizona. 

Via Arizona Capitol Times: 

Saying the technology is unproven and potentially dangerous, state senators today advanced legislation to block any state or local law allowing people to purchase only “smart” guns.

Part of what is in HB2216 precludes any sort of mandatory tracking technology on guns. That includes not only being able to locate weapons using GPS technology, but also having weapons that can send out an electronic message when they have been fired.

But most of the debate revolved around the development of weapons that know who is supposed to be able to fire it, and, more to the point, who is not. And HB2216, if it becomes law, says what’s offered for sale in Arizona can’t be limited to those guns.

That stance bothered Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson.

“This technology holds the promise of potentially, particularly with fingerprint recognition before it’s able to be triggered, of stopping the horrible tragedy of children finding a gun, playing with it, and then killing themselves or others,” he said. Farley said the same is true of a teen who is depressed taking his or her own life.

But Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said the flaw in those arguments is that the technology is not yet perfected. And the result, he said, is someone who and is rightly entitled to use the weapon may find it not working when needed.

Anyway, he said, it’s not like anything in the legislation precludes Arizonans from buying one of these guns.

“It simply prevents any government entity from mandating that’s the only type of weapon you can buy,” Kavanagh said.

Read more here.