On July 4th, Walking Tools Laboratory released an app for Android OS devices called Gun Geo Marker. The developers are seeking to crowdsource geo-tagging the location of dangerous guns and their owners. While they have not categorized which guns are dangerous and which guns are not, users will not be able to crosscheck which gun meet or do not meet the dangerous criteria, and so they will tag a person or an address the moment they notice a gun.
Gun Geo Marker allows users tag locations of gun owners anonymously. What is disturbing is that the process of tagging a gun owner’s address is entirely at the discretion of the app user.
The description on the Gun Geo Marker website states the app allows parents and community members to geo-tag sites associated with dangerous guns and gun owners. The site could be a house, business, public place, or any location where a gun exists. The creators also state that by electronically marking the locations, other people in the area will know about the geography at risk from gun accidents.
This app can be misused in many different ways. It violates the privacy of law-abiding people who own guns. There is no clear definition of what constitutes a dangerous gun, thereby giving pranksters and bullies sufficient reason to geo-tag and harass a person even with a paintball gun. By geo-tagging gun owners, the app users are putting people at risk of home robberies. Thieves armed with the Gun Geo Marker app will know exactly which houses have what kind of gun.
With a lot of steam gathering against this app, it remains to be seen how long this app will remain on Google Play or if there will be any reaction from Google on this app’s existence.
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David says
Well I think this is really wrong and shouldn’t be allowed, if random people can do this then so can the government and we are already at war with the government over guns right now anyway. Which guns are determined as dangerous is really about who is behind the gun not the gun itself.
Keep up the good work on your post though this is needed information.
Frank says
I don’t like this idea I am a gun owner and I don’t want someone tagging me as a threat to Ntional Security or something simply because they can. Doesn’t this sound like an invasion of privacy that our government would just love people to use then they wouldn’t have to be the bad guy. Thank you for posting this information.
Zachary says
I wonder if this is just another clever app concept that also illustrates the state of the country as it relates to the whole gun control controversy. Geo tagging is nothing new, and it is a strategy that works great for retailers because it targets potential customers when they are near a retail location. But it is a different thing when you put guns into the mix. This app is certainly going to garner a lot of attention.
Stefanie says
I see the development and release of this app as a sign of the times and an indicator of various growing trends that have an effect on the gun control debate in the U.S.. I just watched a an episode of the news show, VICE, which documented a controversial maker of 3D guns. He is at the heart of yet another controversy about gun control laws cause he is manufacturing automatic weapons with a 3D printer.