Sen. Ed Markey talks about his new gun control legislation with other leaders after a meeting at Project RIGHT in Roxbury.
Credit: Nicolaus Czarnecki, Metro
It’s not exactly clear where Sen. Ed Markey got the inspiration for his new gun control legislation, but it might have come from the latest James Bond movie.
Markey, during a visit to Project RIGHT in Roxbury, announced on Wednesday that he will introduce new gun control legislation in the Senate next week called the Handgun Trigger Safety Act.
Among the measures in the bill is a requirement that within two years of it passing, all guns manufactured in the United States must be compliant with technology that allows only the owner to fire the weapon. Some of the ideas are similar to how James Bond was the only one able to fire his gun because of palm print identification in the handle as seen in the movie “Skyfall.”
Markey’s ideas include a fingerprint identification pad on the handle of a gun as well as radio frequency technology where the gun would unlock when it is near a wristwatch-like device worn by the owner.
Markey’s new bill would “keep guns, literally, out of the hands of those who should not have them,” he said.
“Technology exists now that can authorize handgun use only by its owner. In the 21st century, we have to use advances in technology to our advantage and save lives,” Markey said.
Markey also called for $10 million to be authorized to study the causes and prevention of gun violence.
Monalisa Smith, the founder of Mothers for Justice and Equality, sat with Markey, local leaders and clergy members for a discussion just before Markey announced his gun control legislation.
“We know that we can’t bring our children back,” she said. “And our work is really to ensure that other families don’t face the same grief and loss that we face. This is an opportunity for all of us to embrace laws and legislation that would hinder taking those innocent lives and really begin to hold people accountable for misusing guns.”
In Boston, there have been 19 shootings, nine of them fatal, through Feb. 9. That’s three more shootings than the same time period last year. The increase in gun violence lead to Mayor Marty Walsh and other city leaders considering a gun buyback program.
Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley also sat in on the meeting with Markey. He said that in the 12 years that he’s been district attorney, 28 children under the age of 16 have been killed in Boston by guns that were “in the wrong hands.”
Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.
