A Maryland man has become the second gun store owner to rethink his position about selling the first “smart gun” in the United States after being hounded by gun-rights advocates.

Andy Raymond is a co-owner of Engage Armament in Rockville, Maryland, and he had tentatively decided to begin selling the Armatix iP1 handgun after the Oak Tree Gun Club in Newhall, California, had earlier had second thoughts about selling the gun.

The iP1 works in tandem with a special watch, and can’t be fired unless a five-digit code is entered into the watch, and the gun must be within 10 inches of the watch to operate. The primary market for such firearms is people who want to prevent children or thieves from using their gun.

But just as it happened in California, Raymond began to get protests and death threats from gun enthusiasts. “To me that is so fricking hypocritical,” Raymond had told The Washington Post before his decision to not sell the iP1. “That’s the antithesis of everything that we pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment people should be. You are not supposed to say a gun should be prohibited. Then you are being no different than the anti-gun people who say an AR-15 should be prohibited.”

Gun-rights advocates fear sales of smart guns because they’re afraid they will be mandated. New Jersey currently has a law stating that if smart guns go on sale anywhere in the country, within three years all guns sold in the Garden State must be smart guns.

Opponents of smart guns haven’t limited their bullying tactics to gun store owners. Belinda Padilla, who represents Armatix, has also been threatened, according to The New York Times.  “Right now, unfortunately, these organizations that are scaring everybody have the power,” Padilla said. “All we’re doing is providing extra levels of safety to your individual right to bear arms. And if you don’t want our gun, don’t buy it. It’s not for everyone.”

It’s certainly not for the person making this comment about Padilla on a pro-gun website: “I have no qualms with the idea of personally and professionally leveling the life of someone who has attempted to profit from disarming me and my fellow Americans.”

-Steve Straehley

To Learn More:

Maryland Dealer, Under Pressure From Gun-Rights Activists, Drops Plan To Sell Smart Gun (by Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post)

‘Smart’ Firearm Draws Wrath of the Gun Lobby (by Jeremy W. Peters, New York Times)

Store Selling “Smart Gun” Surrenders to Attacks on Online Forums (by Noel Brinkerhoff and Danny Biederman, AllGov)