In July I reported that Italian gun maker Chiappa was adding RFID chips to all their firearms. This was supposedly just for inventory control. I was very critical of this move. It did not sit well with me and I knew it would not sit well with the American public either. The latest issue of the European gun magazine Gun Trade World quotes Chiappa’s Cinzia Pinzoni saying “The information on the microchip can be rewritten several times” and “the chip is very difficult to remove … accompanies the weapon forever providing all the information gathered regarding its production … and the registration of the gun and the owners details.”. Scary, very scary!

Clipping from Gun Trade World, September 2011, Page 14. Red highlighting added.

Chris Dumm at TTAG contacted a Chiappa representative about the Gun Trade World article and he responded by saying …

Since our project is still in a phase of development – our goal was to implement the RFID system in spring 2012 – we still have plenty of time to develop a similar system, but employing a removable label instead of a chip inlet inside the receiver. This label made of plastic material can be applied to the trigger guard of the weapon, follow throughout the production cycle and be removed prior to marketing or by the customer.

The US consumer can rest assured that Chiappa Firearms is placing the customer’s interest first and foremost, while developing the most efficient method of firearm manufacturing possible.

To echo Chris’ statement, the moment the first US consumer finds a hidden RFID chip in a gun, a firestorm will erupt. I hope European gun enthusiasts put pressure on the company to abandon their plans in the Europe as well. Nobody needs rewritable RFID chips that record owner information.