Biometric Gun Safe Lets 6-Year-Old Open It, Take Gun To School

SHENANDOAH, IOWA — A family is calling for a particular safe to be pulled from the market following an incident where their six-year-old managed to unlock it and bring a firearm to school.

The family purchased the BBRKIN gun safe from a Chinese manufacturer, believing it would only unlock with a registered fingerprint, thus providing secure storage for their firearm. However, in a shocking twist, their six-year-old son accessed the safe, brought the firearm to school, and was found with the firearm during recess.

When the Shenandoah Police Chief, Josh Gray, got wind of the incident, he called the boy’s parents who were positive that the firearm was securely locked away. Upon investigation, it turned out that the safe, rather than being restricted to the owner’s fingerprint as advertised, could be unlocked by any print – finger or toe.

The father, whose identity has been concealed to protect his child, shared his profound guilt and personal responsibility, despite believing they had taken necessary safety measures. He purchased the safe through Amazon in November for $229. The company, in its product description, mentioned that the safe in default mode could be opened with any fingerprint. However, the father had set up the fingerprint reader according to the manual and found it stayed locked when his wife attempted to open it.

Unfortunately, this family’s experience is not isolated. Other customers posted similar concerns about the product on Amazon, with one saying that the safe could be unlocked with “all ten of my fingers and toes.”

In response to the issues raised, BBRKIN claimed in a March email that they updated their chip program two months prior, restricting access to only registered fingerprints. However, the family in question purchased the safe before this update, leaving them to question why a recall wasn’t issued.

KETV NewsWatch 7 purchased the same safe to test the updated version. The new model seemed to work as expected, unlocking only for the registered fingerprint, a development they relayed to the Shenandoah father.

While the father is relieved, he remains concerned about previous versions of the safe still on the market. He’s taken his complaint to the Consumer Product Safety Commission but received no comment on potential investigations. The manufacturer remains unresponsive to queries about the safe and the update.

While no harm resulted from this incident, it highlights the need for thorough product testing and user knowledge of how their gun safes actually function.