Would the Smart Gun have stopped....

the Atlanta Courthouse shootings. - Cnn PAULA ZAHN NOW - March 15, 2005 Warning Signs Missed in Atlanta Killing Spree? Inside the Mind of Brian Nichols And our Deborah Feyerick looks at another what-if. What if the guns used in the killings could only be fired by their owners? (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FEYERICK (voice-over): This automatic being fired by officer Robert Ohala (ph) is no ordinary gun. It's a smart gun, or at least a prototype of one. When it's perfected, this weapon will allow only Officer Ohala to fire it, not a criminal and certainly not a child. SEBASTIAN: It really makes the decision while you're pulling the trigger. There is no activation period here. While you grab the gun and you pull the trigger, that's when we're making the identity read. FEYERICK: Donald Sebastian heads up research and development at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Five years ago, state lawmakers asked him to find out if guns could be made safer and smarter. MICHAEL RECCE, NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: And the first stage usually is something like this. FEYERICK: Associate professor Michael Recce was tapped to find the answer. And though he didn't know a lot about guns, he did know a lot about human behavior. RECCE: One of the things that I was struck by is how dynamic behavior, certain types of behavior are so repeatable, like the way you grab a pen or a golf club. FEYERICK: The professor discovered the same was true of guns. RECCE: We used police officers and students. We had them grab a plastic gun. And we look at where their hand went. And we saw that, repeatably, their hands were always going to the same place. FEYERICK: So, the professor and his team of graduate students placed tiny sensors in this handgrip. RECCE: As the person grabs the gun, their fingers will touch some of these grips, some of these sensors and their pressure measurements will then -- will be measured over time. FEYERICK: Measured and used as a key to unlock a gun in a tenth of a second, even by a novice. (on camera): I had more control over the gun. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. FEYERICK: Not that I'm used to holding the gun, but it feels the same. Each time I fired it, it feels exactly the same. (voice-over): Not everyone is a fan of the new technology. Chris Cox lobbies for the National Rifle Association. CHRIS COX, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: This high-tech is high- risk. It's unsafe. It's unproven, and it's unreliable. And a less reliable gun is a dumber gun. FEYERICK: In truth, the so-called smart gun is at least two years from being ready. Inventors point out even ordinary guns misfire. SEBASTIAN: The gun itself it's not foolproof. The electronics won't be foolproof. But we can ensure that we've taken the technology to the level required, that it actually is better than current reliability of a mechanical gun. FEYERICK: In the future, a single gun can be programmed so that many shooters can use it. (on camera): You're telling me that you could actually input the hand sensors of 100 people and the gun would be able to be activated by 100 people, as long as they're authorized users? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure. How many numbers can you have in your cell phone? And it's the same principle, because that same set of chip sets for -- that would be the processors in your cell phone are what we're looking at here. FEYERICK (voice-over): Under New Jersey law, police officers would not have to use the new guns, which would run about $50 higher than those now on the market. Paramus Police Chief Fred Corrubia says he's excited by the smart gun's potential. FRED CORRUBIA, PARAMUS POLICE CHIEF: It would actually have to used by the working officer. You would have to be able to shoot it left-handed, right-handed and from various positions which we might encounter in an actual street scene. I want to make sure the gun never goes to the point that it fails for us. (END VIDEOTAPE) ZAHN: That was Deborah Feyerick.