HARTFORD — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy welcomed the announcement Friday that the White House will be completing standards for "smart gun" technology by October.

"I truly hope that Connecticut will be at the forefront of this movement, but only when individual police department and law enforcement are satisfied that this technology is accurate, reliable, durable and feasible," Blumenthal said.

The White House released a report Friday about the federal standards for the sale and use of smart guns — firearms equipped with a mechanism that prevents non-owners from firing the weapon. Before law enforcement agencies could buy smart guns, manufacturers would have to meet the new requirements.

There are several different smart gun protection mechanisms in development, such as a magnetic lock that is opened when in proximity of a special bracelet, and a gun with a biometric scanner in the grip that recognizes the user's hand.

"If we can set it up so you can't unlock your phone unless you've got the right fingerprint, why can't we do the same thing for our guns? If a child can't open a bottle of aspirin, we should make sure that they can't pull a trigger on a gun," President Barack Obama said in statement in January.

According to Murphy, last year more than 50 deaths were caused by toddlers who accidentally shot their parent's guns, and smart gun technology might have prevented those incidents.

He also suggested that the Sandy Hook shooting might have been avoided had Adam Lanza's mother purchased smart guns.

"Adam Lanza used weapons that didn't belong to him to kill 20 kids and six educators. Had Nancy Lanza bought smart guns, there might be kids and educators alive in Newtown. … Maybe Sandy Hook would have never happened," Murphy said.