Thursday, May 11, 2017

To Protect Me, I Can't Close My Garage Door

I came home from a day at the range, opened my garage door with the remote in my car, and moved all my gun gear into the garage.  When I had everything in the right place, I pushed the inside-the-garage mounted controller to close the garage door. Nothing happened.

So I went to the (exterior) frame-mounted, coded controller on the outside of the garage, entered my four-digit code, and waited.   Nothing.  Tried it four more times, being VERY careful to ensure that I used the correct code.

Nothing.

So I went back to my car, entered the four-digit code to unlock the car door (it worked), and used the same in-car remote to close the garage door ... you know, the one I had use to OPEN the door.

Nothing.

I got my landlord to come over.  He couldn't get it to work with his remote, either.
Finally, we physically disengaged the garage door opener mechanism from the garage door, manually closed the garage door, manually pulled it down.  And manually locked it.

That all occurred three weeks ago.

My landlord has been in touch with the GENIE people; this week they gave him instructions how to test the garage door opener.  Everything they tried, doesn't work.  Finally,  they decided that the mother-board was fried.  They promised to send a replacement.   They're a little bit backed up, so it will take a couple of weeks to get one to him.

So the replacement mother-board for the garage door opener will be here late this month.

My landlord was careful to inform me that it won't actually be REPLACED, let alone tested, that soon.

I told him .. that's okay.  I can move my gun gear from the driveway to the garage through the patio doors; it's not convenient, but I can get it 'off the street'.  And I'm confident that nobody will be able to get into my garage in the meantime.

That's very comforting.  Nobody can get at my stuff.

On the other hand .. neither can I, unless I go through a lot of physical 'stuff' that takes a lot of time and inconvenience.

Now: please tell me how the same technology that can't get my garage opener to operate in less than six weeks will help me to defend myself and my home if my firearms uses the same technology 'to protect me'?
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Rep. Maloney Introduces Legislation to Reduce Gun Deaths, Make Guns Safer | Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney: May 8, 2017 Press Release WASHINGTON —In an effort to improve gun safety, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) has reintroduced The Handgun Trigger Safety Act, forward-thinking legislation to use new and emerging technology to prevent gun deaths. The bill would promote the development of new “smart gun” technology that only allows an authorized user to fire a gun. It would also mandate that all newly manufactured handguns use this technology within five years, and that existing handguns be retrofitted with this technology within ten years. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) will introduce a companion version in the Senate.

OH and by the way: I'm a widower.

I live alone.   Nobody gets inside my home unless I let them in; my landlord and I have the only keys.

Tell me how it protects the children (there are none here) if I don't lock up my guns where I can't access them quickly.  And how does any state mandate firearms maintenance laws when they don't apply to every home situation?

H/T David Codrea

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't even use a smart phone, and now they expect me to be able to use smart guns. No way.

Mark said...

Don't trust any machine purported to be smarter than you.

Jerry The Geek said...

The thought which frightens me is, that the machines all-too-often ARE smarter than me!

On the other hand, the kids that were smarter than me in Junior high School usually got the crap beat out of the by the "dumb" kids who resented their "Holier Than Thou" attitudes.

(There's an aphorism there, but the best thing I could come up with is "Smarmy Smart Kids Shouldn't Try To Lord It Over Tough Dumb Kids")

Needs a little work, doesn't it?