I propose the crap idea of inserting RFID tags into guns. I know this is a crap idea, because most RFID can be easily deactivated, and the only good place to attach them to a gun would likely be on the handle grips, which normally can be changed out more easily than removing firing patterns, or changing a firing pin. RFID also can be deactivated by remote processes. Thus, this idea could be defeated quite simply by a dedicated criminal.

Why even bother with this idea? Chiefly because metal detectors are an even crappier idea. They are plagued with false positives from anything metal. Prosthetics, steel toed boots, large belt buckles, cheap jewelry, and even spare change can trigger them. They can interefere with magnetically stored information, such as credit cards, and possibly even hard drives. Some can interfere with pacemakers, and the expense of installing them is taken as a total loss, or at best as "insurance" against some horrific tragedy.

RFID, for all it's problems, would avoid many shortcomings of metal detectors. False positives would be greatly reduced. Since RFID can encode data, the readers could also provide more precise information. Metal detectors say "Hey, there's at least this much metal here." RFID codes for guns could include information on the make and model of weapon, as well as the weapon's serial number. Respondents then could know what they were up against in terms of firepower, and depending on local gun registry databases, they might also have a good idea as to who the shooter is, for additional threat assessment. Guns registered to Police officers, and individuals with concealed carry permits might be treated differently from guns listed as stolen, for example, if the databases are available for this distinction.

To the best of my knowledge, RFID does not interfere with pacemakers, or any kind of commonly used storage media.

The main reason for suggesting this idea is the fact that there are literally millions of RFID devices already in place. Located in public areas such as malls, convenience stores, libraries, and even some schools, these RFID devices have already proven themselves capable of reducing loss due to shoplifters, and accounting for the flow of students. Admittedly, these are designed for a rather temporary type of RFID, but if they can be made to read a more permanent kind, gun detection could be made cheaply available to millions of institutions, places where armed robbery, kidnapping, and shooting rampages sometimes occur would gain a certain amount of safety against these threats.