By: Evan Burnham '21

Blockchain, the same technology responsible for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, could be America’s solution to gun control. In wake of the recent mass shooting at Parkland High School in Florida, debate over how to prevent such tragedies has heated up. While many solutions propose changing federal law, one possible solution that may seem unconventional, but could be successful, is the use of a blockchain ledger to keep track of firearm purchases and firearm owners’ information. This proposal is relatively new, but it has the capacity to harness the power of technology to solve a major national problem.

The first instance of using blockchain to keep track of firearm information came in June 2017, when a startup called Blocksafe released an app to keeps track of firearm parts and shipments. While this app did not exactly relate to gun control measures, it showed that it is possible to utilize blockchain to keep track of firearms (The Observer). In November of last year, Professor Thomas Heston at Washington State University released a research paper detailing how blockchain could be used to directly monitor firearm purchases and possibly prevent mass shootings.

Heston’s proposal is to set up a national database, utilizing blockchain, that would serve as a multipurpose tracking system for all firearm purchases. Heston refers to this database as an “electronic gun safe”. The blockchain database would include basic information such as the gun owners name, hometown, and age, but it could also include more sensitive information such as mental health history, background check data, and fingerprint scans. The latter information could be utilized in filtering out people who might commit mass shootings, and ensuring that no one else besides the owner can use the gun (Heston 2017). The blockchain technology would ensure that this information is secure and immutable, because the blockchain is decentralized so hacking and changing information is near impossible. Blockchain’s smart-contract technology could also be utilized to prevent unauthorized firearm sales by requiring third-party approval for any purchase to be made.

While this proposal seems very promising, there are a few challenges and questions that still remain. First, developing a nationwide blockchain database would be extremely costly, especially when compared with other potential solutions such as changing legislation. Also, this blockchain database could be looked upon as an invasion of privacy. The proposal of uploading secure personal information to a database would also likely create legal controversy surrounding the 4th amendment (Houser). Additionally, for the fingerprint information in the database be useful, all new guns would need to be outfitted with fingerprint sensing technology. The fingerprint sensing technology would require the person using the gun to scan their fingertip before using the gun, ensuring only people who have passed background checks can use guns (Houser). Though this fingerprint sensing technology does already exist, it would be a logistical and legislative challenge to get all gun companies to agree to use the technology on their firearms . These challenges are substantial, and all of them would need to be adequately addressed in order for blockchain technology to be used as a means of gun control.

Blockchain technology is relatively new, and we are just beginning to explore all of its possible applications. Using blockchain technology to monitor firearms could definitely help reduce mass shootings by making it more difficult to obtain guns illegally and purchase a gun without passing a mental health background check. Despite its promise, using blockchain technology for this purpose also presents many challenges related to personal privacy and legislative authority, and these challenges currently outweigh the potential benefits of creating such a system. However, as we continue to steadily improve and expand blockchain technology, I predict that its influence will spread well beyond just cryptocurrencies, and that we will see it used to solve large-scale problems such as this one.

Sources:http://observer.com/2018/02/blockchain-could-improve-gun-control/https://futurism.com/blockchain-gun-control/https://peerj.com/preprints/3407.pdfImage source:https://www.smartdatacollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/blockchain-explain-smartdata-collective-1024x614.jpg