Top pols urge Mayor de Blasio to invest cityâ€™s money in â€˜smart gunsâ€™ for the NYPD

NYC PAPERS OUT. Social media use restricted to low res file max 184 x 128 pixels and 72 dpi

Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (speaking) and Comptroller Scott Stringer (r.) call on Mayor de Blasio to use city purchasing power to advance safe gun technology.

Two top pols want to see NYPD cops carrying smart guns.

Controller Scott Stringer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries pushed Mayor de Blasio Monday to use the city's purchasing power to push gun manufacturers to make smart guns, ordering up a weapon to put on the NYPD's approved firearms list.

"A stolen smart gun in the hands of a criminal is no more deadly than a paperweight," Stringer said. "A smart gun in the hands of a child won't discharge accidentally. And if a smart gun is ever grabbed by a criminal from a police officer during an altercation, it can't be used to shoot back."

Smart guns use technology to prevent them from being fired by anyone unauthorized — some need to be unlocked by a fingerprint before the trigger can be pulled, while others only operate when matched with a wristband worn by the owner.

But the guns aren't widely available in the United States.

"The reason why the gun manufacturers have chosen not to adopt [smart guns] is because they're not trying to simply do the right thing. They trade in the currency of blood money. They are merchants of death. And the only way to combat it is with forceful economic power," Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) said.

A smart gun by Armatix is implanted with an electronic chip that allows it to be fired only if the shooter is wearing a watch that communicates with it through a radio signal.

Metro Industrial Areas Foundation said 82 jurisdictions — cities, states, counties and towns — have submitted a request for information to gun manufacturers expressing interest in smart guns.

They seek a detailed overview of the company's activities and goals with respect to gun safety technologies, including description of any technologies currently used by the company or now in development that would prevent or deter the use of a gun by unauthorized users, make a gun more difficult for a child to fire, or prevent accidental discharge of a gun.

The list includes Boston, San Francisco, Atlanta, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. New York is included in the 82 because Stringer signed the request, but the mayor hasn't.

Jeffries and Stringer, both sometime rivals of de Blasio, said he should step up on the issue.

The NYPD is the second biggest purchaser of guns in the country after the federal government, Stringer said, but the department has refused to disclose exactly how much it spends on firearms for security reasons.

Cops choose their own guns from a department list of approved models.

Backers say that if the city tells gun manufacturers they'll buy from whoever produces the technology, the industry will fall in line.

"We want to create that market. We demand a smart gun. And the company that produces the smart gun will get our business," Stringer said. "These gun manufacturers, they don't want to introduce smart guns because they've got to take on their friends at the NRA. We're now going to say to the NRA, we're bigger than you, we're stronger than you. Because we've got the money."

"Reducing gun violence and strengthening NYPD equipment are top priorities for this administration. We are always looking into ways to encourage the use and development of new technology, and will review this proposal," said de Blasio spokeswoman Monica Klein.

The Rev. David Brawley of the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation criticized the mayor, noting President Obama has already directed federal agencies to work on smart guns.

"The mayor has been non-responsive on the issue, and when we met with Commissioner Bratton, he said it will never work. But the President thinks it will work," he said.