The "Armatix iP1 digital smart gun system" designed to make gun ownership safer is under attack from the National Rifle Association and gun rights advocates who claim the weapon violates their 2^nd Amendment rights.

Made by the German firm Armatix, the iP1 smart gun system consists of the "iP1 handgun" and the "iW1 Active RFID watch." The Armatix iP1 handgun is a "smart gun," which is a weapon that only works in the hands of a single designated individual.

In the case of the Armatix iP1 handgun, that single designated individual has to enter a PIN code into the special iW1 Active RFID watch before he can fire his weapon.

The Armatix iP1 handgun also cannot be fired without the matching iW1 Active RFID wrist watch. And in order for the handgun to fire, the matching watch must be within 10 inches (25 cm) of the weapon. The watch can also deactivate the firearm by means of a time-control feature.

The personalized handgun is ready for sale in the USA, but no gun store is currently selling it. Press reports said that in the past month and a half, a gun store in Maryland and another in California stopped selling the Armatix iP1 due to hostile reactions and death threats from gun-rights activists.

Opponents of the smart gun believe that introduction of the Armatix iP1 will trigger laws at the state and federal levels mandating that smart gun technology be applied to all firearms

A New Jersey law enacted in 2002 mandates that once smart guns such as the Armatix iP1 which are personalized to a designated individual go on the market anywhere in the USA, New Jersey gun sellers have to stop selling traditional guns within three years and shift exclusively to smart guns.

Some experts believe the conditions described in the New Jersey law seem to have been fulfilled by the Armatix iP1's brief availability in California.

Pundits noted that an entire state banning the sale of guns that don't have smart gun technology would presumably be a huge blow to what gun enthusiasts believe is their Constitutional right to fire whatever kind of gun they want to fire in whatever fashion they see fit.

The Armatix iP1 weighs 518 grams without a loaded magazine. The pistol fires a .22 LR caliber round and is fed via a 10-round detachable box magazine. It has an effective range of 75 yards or 69 meters.