One step closer to X-Ray glasses

Perverts everywhere rejoice.

So as it turns out, New York has a wee bit of a gun problem. Despite having some of the strictest firearms restrictions in the Republic, New York has been unable to curb gun crime with any satisfying results. The New York Police Department's current method of dealing with the overwhelming handgun population are  random (read: of black dudes) pat down searches. While this technique managed to procure over 800 guns, 88% of the searches performed came up with nothing. The NYPD wants better results, and if they can get those without all that pesky "movement" required when frisking someone, all the better.

Enter science!


The NYPD has teamed up with the Department of Defense to create a weapon-scanner that would be able to detect concealed firearms from 80 feet away. The scanner works by detecting terahertz waves, which are sandwiched between infrared and microwaves on the electromagnetic spectrum. They flow freely through almost any material, save metal, allowing the scanner to effectively see through any non-metallic substance (including walls - #scifishit), while highlighting metal on the other side, creating a similar effect as x-rays passing through flesh, but reflecting off bone.

Photo credit: NYPD

The prototype currently being tested has a fairly limited effective range of about three to five meters, but  the goal is to quintuple that. Naturally, a device like this has some pretty serious invasion-of-privacy issues that come standard, but unfortunately for fans of carrying metallic dildos on their person, the NYPD has been in contact with "lawyers" who "don't see any constitutional issues here."

But of course, this is the same justice system that didn't see any constitutional issues with murdering 24 unarmed civilians, but I guess that's whatever.

As an avid science fiction fan, I think this is some pretty cool technology that stands to benefit a lot of people. While I'm not entirely thrilled about the concept of being scanned without my knowledge or consent, I'm not exactly handy with the steel, if you know what I mean, so I don't have much to hide. I guess if you want to continue to carry unlicensed heaters around, you know, you may not like this so much, but, it's like, you probably shouldn't be doing that in the first place.

My guess, though, is that this will be some pretty expensive gadgetry, thus being reserved for skeezy secret agents want to see ladies' underwears in an Azerbaijani casino. (See header photo) The fact that it will be decades before it becomes practical to implement on any reasonably troublesome scale is made irrelevant by the fact that people will find a way to get around it.


I see the market for terahertz neutral guns becoming pretty big in the near future. It's like the great Goldblum said in Jurassic Park, "Life finds a way..."

... to get better guns and continue killing other life.

I think is what he was going to say. I mean, they kinda cut before he said it, but he was headed in that direction.

[Spotted on Singularity Hub]