Location-Based Small Arms Control System

1 . A firearm system comprising:

a trigger mechanism; and

a controller coupled to the trigger mechanism and configured to disable the trigger mechanism when the apparatus is within a gun-restricted zone.

2 . The firearm system of claim 1 , further comprising a gun scope including the controller.

3 . The firearm system of claim 1 , wherein the trigger mechanism comprises at least one electrical component responsive to the controller and configured to selectively disable the trigger mechanism in response to a signal from the controller.

4 . The firearm system of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises:

a transceiver configured to receive a radio frequency signal;

a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to determine a location of the controller in response to the radio frequency signal.

5 . The firearm system of claim 4 , wherein:

the controller is configured to determine a distance between the location of the controller and location data of a nearest one of a plurality of gun-restricted zones in a database of gun-restricted zones; and

the controller disables the trigger mechanism when the distance is less than or equal to a distance threshold.

6 . The firearm system of claim 5 , wherein the controller further comprises a memory configured to store the database of gun-restricted zones.

7 . The firearm system of claim 5 , wherein the controller sends a query including the location of the controller to a database to retrieve the location data associated with the nearest one of the plurality of gun-restricted zones.

8 . The firearm system of claim 1 , wherein the controller continuously monitors a location of the trigger mechanism and searches a database of gun-restricted zones for a nearest gun-restricted zone during power up and periodically thereafter.

9 . A method comprising:

determining a distance between a location of a gun and a gun-restricted zone using a controller coupled to a trigger mechanism; and

disabling the trigger mechanism to prevent discharge of a firearm when the distance falls below a pre-determined threshold.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the distance comprises determining the location of the gun by retrieving location data from a network.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein retrieving the location data from the network comprises communicating with a global positioning satellite (GPS) system to retrieve GPS coordinates.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein retrieving the location data from the network comprises communicating with one or more wireless communication network towers to determine the location data.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein retrieving the location data from the network comprises communicating with one or more wireless access points to determine the location data.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein disabling the trigger mechanism comprises selectively activating an electrical component of the trigger mechanism to prevent discharge of a firearm.

15 . A firearm system comprising:

a small arms firearm;

a trigger mechanism coupled to the small arms firearm and including a firing mechanism configured to discharge the small arms firearm in response to a trigger pull; and

a controller communicatively coupled to the trigger mechanism and configured to disable the firing mechanism when the small arms firearm is within a pre-determined distance of a gun-restricted zone.

16 . The firearm system of claim 15 , wherein the controller comprises a gun scope.

17 . The firearm system of claim 15 , wherein the controller comprises at least one of a smart phone, a laptop computer, and a tablet computer.

18 . The firearm system of claim 15 , wherein the controller:

determines global positioning satellite (GPS) coordinates of the small arms firearm;

compares the GPS coordinates to location data of a plurality of gun-restricted zones in a database to identify a nearest gun-restricted zone; and

determines a distance between the GPS coordinates of the small arms firearm and a perimeter edge of the gun-restricted zone; and

wherein the controller disables the trigger mechanism when the distance falls below a threshold.

19 . The firearm system of claim 15 , wherein the trigger mechanism includes a electrical component that is responsive to a control signal from the controller to prevent discharge of the small arms firearm.

20 . The firearm system of claim 15 , wherein the gun-restricted zone comprises at least one of a school zone and a government agency zone.