Thank God that ring didn't make it into the design.
Hey, Phil and everyone here,
Here’s the story on the “Safe Gun” Technology design being put to the “Back Seat”.
My brother Karl wanted to do it because there was a lot of interest by the government and it looked like things were going in that direction 20 years ago. I was watching all of the different forums back then to get a feel for what you, the public, wanted. . . . . and it wasn't this "Safe Gun" stuff! Then, New Jersey put the nail in the coffin for any sort of this technology. They put into law that if a company comes up with a reliable "Safe Gun" technology, then every firearm, whether handgun or long gun, would have to have it on their firearms within a two-year period in the state of New Jersey, with others most likely to follow. Can you imagine the money we could have made with that patent!? Everyone would have had to get the license to use our system on their firearms. We were looking at some serious cash coming in our direction. Our Rohrbaugh R9 was already being talked about on the forums as the world’s smallest and lightest 9mm pistol and now “Safe Gun” Technology to boot!? However, once the government enforcement of “Safe Gun” tech details got out, we were considered just like another Smith & Wesson “Selling out to The Feds” for offering such a controversial system. Here is the fubar: Originally that technology was going to be used by our armed forces and police departments to protect themselves from the enemy picking up their sidearm and trying to use it to kill our guys. That technology would have been a good and honorable cause being used in that capacity. However, they turned that around and instead made that tech mandatory for civilian firearms only, whilst the armed forces and police were exempt. Now hold on a moment fellas, here is some deep inside information coming right from the manufacturer for you on this issue back in the day. . . . . . I had a conversation with Karl about this and you, the public, and your disdain for such a bill. I convinced Karl to stop the development of the technology because the feds were going to use it against us, the patriotic free Americans! Along with the fact that the public was starting to badmouth Rohrbaugh Firearms Corp. because of the tech before we even got started! Not a good thing. Karl agreed and we abandoned the project. I put it out to the forums I was participating in to keep people informed about the progress of our R9 project that we were going to abandon the “Safe Gun” version and just make our pistol without it. . . . A standard semi-auto 9mm pocket pistol. The people on the forums said something like, and I’m paraphrasing here: “Well now that the Rohrbaugh Brothers have abandoned that Safe Gun technology pistol, I am going to wish them well on their venture and success with the R9!” The rest is, as they say, history. We became the
2005 NRA Handgun of The Year. At that time, we were
the only company in the NRA's history to come out of nowhere and in the first year of production be honored with that prestigious award.
. . . . . As Paul Harvey would say: "And now. . . you know the rest of the story."
Good Night ............. Be safe and stay well every one of you Patriots.
Eric R.
