Here’s a very clever idea, so it seems, German fire arms maker Armatix has created a handgun that will only fire once the user is wearing a biometrically unlocked wrist watch. It has an LED that goes green when the gun is ready to fire and red when it is locked.

“To activate the wrist watch, the authorized person’s fingerprint must first be read by the wrist watch. An internal database compares the current fingerprint against stored prints and responds accordingly. The wrist watch is then activated for a definable period – e.g. an officer’s work shift or until manually deactivated.”

It’s a good way of controlling guns, especially during times of a gun ban like here in the Philippines during election season or New Year’s celebrations.

However, I see a few concerns. What if the wristwatch gets busted. How do you then unlock the gun? What if, say you’re a police officer, you and your partner get tangled in a gun fight with criminals and he takes a hit while your weapon gets jammed or becomes useless you need your partner’s hand gun. But alas it’s locked and you can’t use it either?

Surely though, this hypothetical concerns would be addressed and the technology would be widespread in the future. It will help preventing crime, gun shot injuries and solve crimes.

At present, there is .22 cal hand gun which sells for 7,000 Euro (that’s almost $10,000 or 453 605.22 Philippine pesos) and will be available next month. Check out the product page here.

• iWallet – a safe in your pocket that reads your fingerprint (0)