A Minnesota company has made big news lately with their invention of a handgun disguised as a cellphone. The double-barreled .380 caliber gun, called the Ideal Conceal, is proportional to a Samsung Galaxy S7 and looks exactly like the phone until the safety is clicked, which makes it immediately ready to fire.
The man behind the invention, a serial entrepreneur named Kirk Kjellberg, says he came up with the idea after attention was drawn to him in a restaurant when a young boy announced he had a gun.
On the company webpage, it says the Ideal Conceal is a remedy to the problem of having to conceal guns. The page says that the pistol will “easily blend in with today’s environment.”
I’m not sure that’s a positive thing.
It’s ironic how we live in a time where kids are playing with toy guns that appear to be real, and actual guns are being disguised. This seems like something out of a James Bond movie, but the cellphone gun is a real item that will likely begin production next fall. The gun is already in high demand, with its Facebook page having over 20k likes and countless emails being sent to Kjellberg expressing interest.
I don’t have a problem with citizens exercising their right to bear arms, but I think this right has been continually abused for some time now. There doesn’t seem to be any legitimate reason to need an assault rifle for self-protection nor a handgun disguised as a cellphone.
When someone sees a gun, such as the recent affair outside of Taylor’s, people automatically get a bit on edge, and for good reason. A gun signifies the potential for danger and prepares people to react. When someone possesses a gun made to appear like a cellphone, no one will realize the potential threat before it happens.
The company obviously markets their product as a self-defense weapon, but what’s to stop criminals from using the gun inconspicuously? This weapon will make law enforcement’s job harder.
Think about what will happen if the cellphone gun is left out to people who don’t know what it is. There is already enough of a problem with kids getting their hands on their parents’ guns, and having a gun disguised as a cool gadget certainly isn’t going to steer kids away. Even the owner of the gun could mistake it for their cellphone in a state of distraction or intoxication and do great harm to themselves and others.
Enabling people to carry around a gun in their pocket would also prompt people to take their gun with them more places. Enforcing open carry laws, which vary state to state, would be nearly impossible due to the stealth of the cellphone gun. Do we really want people to be taking their gun to public places each day, as if it’s the same as a wallet or keys?
We seem to have reached a time where interest in guns has really gotten out of control. According to USA Today, there have been 200 mass killings in the U.S. since 2006. This has caused many people to live in fear of violent attacks. In turn, Gun sales have surged after events such as the mass shootings in San Bernardino shooting and Paris.
The more President Obama calls for increased gun control, the more paranoid people are getting about losing their right to bear arms. On Ideal Conceal’s homepage, it is pointed out that, “In today’s day and age, carrying a concealed pistol has become a necessity.”
I don’t agree with this statement, but it’s scary to think that this view holds true with many Americans. The invention of a gun shaped like a cellphone is a bad idea on many different levels. Guns have a distinct look for a reason, and we should keep it that way.