Gun Security App

K

KyJim

Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2007
Messages
557
Location
Kentucky
There’s a new gun security app coming out in June. You attach a “beacon” to a firearm that alerts an app on your phone if the firearm is a certain distance away from the phone (most of us keep our phones close).

It is evidently designed to keep up with a carry gun or one in a drawer, etc. It seems to be a common sense precaution to me. What do you think? Here is a link to a news story: https://www.wdrb.com/news/business/...cle_181d2b00-0040-11ef-8346-2bf30ef59e0f.html
 
Anyone who thinks most, even many, gun owners/carriers will give third party access to the location of their guns doesn’t understand the customer base very well.

Just read a few threads, many people want even tell their own families they carry. They are certainly not going to trust some stranger/company with telling them that not only do they have guns, here is the location.

Not going to happen.
 
Last edited:
I don’t know the details of how the app works, but assume the link between gun and app is encrypted to some degree. It is not a location app and shouldn’t alert others there is a gun nearby.
 
KyJim said:
I don’t know the details of how the app works, but assume the link between gun and app is encrypted to some degree. It is not a location app and shouldn’t alert others there is a gun nearby.
Click to expand...
That data is presumably either going to or is accessible by the app developer, which is the main security concern for any app collecting any sort of sensitive data. The developer can then sell your data (either “anonymized”, or not) to third party advertisers or activists, which is a major revenue stream for many apps.
 
Selling personal data would be a concern. Not sure what the developer will track and what data might be sold. I’m one who doesn’t advertise owing guns—no stickers or clothing to make others aware.
 
Technology is too easily abused at the moment. So it is a pass from me. If a firearm is not on me it is in a locked container of some sort. Either bedside or in a safe. If I start losing them between those three places, I would rather give up firearms altogether than need a tether app to them.
 
KyJim said:
There’s a new gun security app coming out in June. You attach a “beacon” to a firearm that alerts an app on your phone if the firearm is a certain distance away from the phone (most of us keep our phones close).

It is evidently designed to keep up with a carry gun or one in a drawer, etc. It seems to be a common sense precaution to me. What do you think? Here is a link to a news story: https://www.wdrb.com/news/business/...cle_181d2b00-0040-11ef-8346-2bf30ef59e0f.html
Click to expand...
Given how often I read about people leaving their carry gun in a public restroom, some may want this.
It will work just as intended right up until someone leaves their cell phone in that restroom stall right next to the gun.
 
DeepSouth said:
Anyone who thinks most, even many, gun owners/carriers will give third party access to the location of their guns doesn’t understand the customer base very well.
Click to expand...
Like an Apple AirTag or Tile placed on your luggage?

Just read a few threads, many people want even tell their own families they carry. They are certainly not going to trust some stranger/company with telling them that not only do they have guns, here is the location.
Not going to happen.
Click to expand...
Yet every person on this forum does it all the time.
 
AlexanderA said:
Sounds like a solution in search of a problem. Something that we don't need.
Click to expand...
Texas superintendent resigns after student finds his gun in school bathroom

Security officer leaves gun unattended at Story Elementary School

After leaving a gun unattended in school restroom, Granbury teacher is put on leave

Whitney HS vice principal left gun unattended in bathroom

Weapon found in faculty bathroom, Lubbock ISD officer on leave

2 Texas School Security Officers Fired for Leaving Unattended Guns on Campus

Now.........thats just a few stories on firearms left in restrooms in Texas schools that were discovered by students or other teachers/staff in the last few years. There's more....a lot more. How many times was a gun left unattended and the carrier went back for it before someone else discovered? How many of these instances of negligence weren't reported?

Not to mention the number of Google hits if I had expanded my search beyond "firearms left in Texas schools".

There sure as hell is a problem. I'm not saying a cell phone app is the answer, but to dismiss it as a "solution in search of a problem" defies reality.
 
dogtown tom said:
There sure as hell is a problem. I'm not saying a cell phone app is the answer, but to dismiss it as a "solution in search of a problem" defies reality.
Click to expand...

I agree, there definitely is a problem, and I also have to agree about whether or not an App is the answer. Hard for me to understand, how anyone would forget their gun in a bathroom, kinda like forgetting your kid in the backseat of the car. Maybe a small lanyard with a retractable cable that would give you enough length to draw when needed, but would not allow the gun to be left behind. Folks would realize they forgot to re-holster their gun, when they started to drag it across the floor......... :rofl:
 
dogtown tom said:
Given how often I read about people leaving their carry gun in a public restroom, some may want this.
It will work just as intended right up until someone leaves their cell phone in that restroom stall right next to the gun.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a finders keepers situation.

KyJim said:
There’s a new gun security app coming out in June. You attach a “beacon” to a firearm that alerts an app on your phone if the firearm is a certain distance away from the phone (most of us keep our phones close).

It is evidently designed to keep up with a carry gun or one in a drawer, etc. It seems to be a common sense precaution to me. What do you think? Here is a link to a news story: https://www.wdrb.com/news/business/...cle_181d2b00-0040-11ef-8346-2bf30ef59e0f.html
Click to expand...

I know people are expressing privacy concerns. Your phone already tracks you everywhere you go. Even if you turn off your GPS. And companies are pretty cooperative with authorities.

Who's to say you actually have it on a gun? At my last job we started using an Milwaukee branded RFID tag, like an airtag to track tools. Another employee walks away with a tool or a leaves a drill in a ceiling.

It looks useless for handgun theft. It's not small enough to hide inside a handgun. Maybe a rifle or shotgun.

The only way I can see privacy is an issue is if gunlease shares its data with a venue or organization where firearms are prohibited. Stick the tag on the magazine and swap mags before you walk in.

Or if you were detained by police and said that you weren't somewhere with your gun, and they can track you on gunleash and see where you were. Then you're no longer credible.

I can see how it could be useful. I closed up a Kel-Tec P11 in a case with a rifle when I left the range. I took the rifle out and cleaned it. The lid had shut on the case and I put it back up on the shelf in the garage. A couple of months later I went to fly somewhere and went looking for my cheap airplane gun. Couldn't find it for 6 months, until I took the rifle case down. Of course a big old tag stuck to a mag base plate wouldn't have done any good, since it wasn't loaded.
 
dogtown tom said:
Texas superintendent resigns after student finds his gun in school bathroom

Security officer leaves gun unattended at Story Elementary School

After leaving a gun unattended in school restroom, Granbury teacher is put on leave

Whitney HS vice principal left gun unattended in bathroom

Weapon found in faculty bathroom, Lubbock ISD officer on leave

2 Texas School Security Officers Fired for Leaving Unattended Guns on Campus

Now.........thats just a few stories on firearms left in restrooms in Texas schools that were discovered by students or other teachers/staff in the last few years. There's more....a lot more. How many times was a gun left unattended and the carrier went back for it before someone else discovered? How many of these instances of negligence weren't reported?

Not to mention the number of Google hits if I had expanded my search beyond "firearms left in Texas schools".

There sure as hell is a problem. I'm not saying a cell phone app is the answer, but to dismiss it as a "solution in search of a problem" defies reality.
Click to expand...
The problem is the “it’ll never happen to me mentality”

Convincing people they can be the ones who drop the ball is normally an up hill battle.
 
OK, from someone who did IT security for many years, there is good and bad here.

At it's core, the device looks to be using some kind of short-range radio to announce itself to your phone. Probably some form of Bluetooth low-energy. Which means that there is no reason for a cloud connection or any internet connection between your phone or the device. So it sounds like he made a good start. To be clear, you can't track it if it goes away. Your phone just yells if it leaves a certain numbe of feet from your gun, (To avoid leaving it in the bathroom, or pick-holsters)

However, the sheer fact that you have to create an account is a warning sign that they want to use something on your phone at some point. And the account is required. The device is not a GPS, but your phone is.

Most worrying is the Privacy Notice:

PRIVACY AND COOKIE NOTICE​

GUNNY Company collects and processes the personal data of the visitors of the Website and users of the Application.

That's it. "process" can refer to selling, sharing, giving away, and really anything they want. It is an open privacy policy that really doesn't limit them.
Most privacy notices are multiple pages long and they try to hide their sharing of data under 10 feet of BS.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

bersaguy
  • Locked
Smart Guns....Are We Doing this Again?
Replies
9
Views
372
Frank Ettin
Frank Ettin
J
Actualizing Anchorite's text reminder - Hey dummy don't forget to lock up your gun
Replies
1
Views
286
jmorris
jmorris
M
  • Locked
Gun Insurance
Replies
1
Views
779
Henry Bowman
H
D
  • Locked
(Australia) Mobile phone guns showing up on the streets
Replies
4
Views
649
0007
0
M
  • Locked
I'm sure glad I can't carry a gun on my campus...
2
Replies
40
Views
3K
macadore
M
Back
Top