BROOMFIELD, Colo. — There are many different approaches to the gun control debate, but no matter where each individual stands, no one wants to see another tragedy like Uvalde, Texas, or Buffalo, New York.
One Colorado company is trying to address gun safety with innovation. Biofirein Broomfield is building its own brand of smart gun from the ground up, both mechanically and technologically.
It's a handgun with a fingerprint sensor on the grip designed to only unlock for the owner. It then locks instantaneously when they put it down.
Biofire founder Kai Kloepfer said the challenge lies in tying together the safety software with the mechanical components of a gun.
"We really heard, I think, very clearly from our customers that reliability is the number one key concern," Kloepfer said. "A smart gun is pretty straight forward. It's a gun that only works for the owner, but it actually needs to make sure that that part is going to seamlessly unlock every single time the owner needs it to and, at the same time, is always going to be locked when their kids find it, for example."
Kloepfer does not pretend to think a smart gun will solve all of America's gun problems, but he does hope it's a piece of the puzzle.
Kloepfer went to Fairview High School in Boulder and remembers vividly the impact of the Aurora theater shooting in 2012.
It has motivated him to consult with law enforcement and everyday gun owners to find a solution and cut down on senseless deaths.
"At the end of the day, I think we as Americans need to be doing everything we can to chip away and start to tackle every single different piece of, what I view is, a pretty complicated piece around gun deaths," Kloepfer said. "Biofire addresses one portion of that. Our goal is to help prevent accidents and suicides, and those do make up two-thirds of all gun deaths, but obviously there are lots of other causes as well."
The Biofire smart handgun is not on the market yet. The company is still in the testing process.