Researchers at Sweden's defense lab created software that flags hidden handguns by studying how they change everyday wireless signals. An October 13 arXiv paper names the setup WiFireNet and describes a transmitter, a receiver, and a model that reads those unique distortions. Training mixed video with wireless traces so the system could separate metal pistols, plastic copies, and other objects.

The column warns that the same approach could single out people who legally carry guns, especially if surveillance firms or towns that offer free wireless install it. That risk, the writer says, endangers privacy and lawful firearm possession more than other current gadgets.