Gun store owner received death threats over plans to sell safer gun

ROCKVILLE, Md., May 4 (UPI) -- A gun store owner in Maryland has given up on plans to sell the first smart gun in the United States after anti-gun control extremists threatened to murder him if he sold the weapon.

Andy Raymond, co-owner of Engage Armament in Rockville, Md, was forced not to sell the newly-developed Armatix iP1 .22-caliber handgun due to negative reaction to its revolutionary safety feature. The gun is a standard .22-caliber automatic with one significant addition to the deadly weapon - it cannot be fired unless the shooter is wearing an accompanying wristwatch.

Opponents of gun control efforts are against sale of smart guns because they fear it will trigger a 2002 New Jersey law requiring all guns sold in the state adhere to the safer standards as soon as the technology is available.

"You're going to get what's coming to you," threatened one anonymous gun enthusiast.

Raymond, a "right-wing vanguard of gun rights," called out those against smart guns, telling the Washington Post, they're "so freaking hypocritical." Raymond continued, “That’s the antithesis of everything that we pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment people should be. You are not supposed to say a gun should be prohibited. Then you are being no different than the anti-gun people who say an AR-15 should be prohibited.”