having a swat team member explode when they flat line might be a bad idea. I mean think of the rest of the members in the team. If they were grouped together and one dies then it would just be one big explosive inferno. Personally I find maybe an RFID tag that is specifically implanted in their body that sends a signal to the gun that allows it to fire is a workable idea as well. If a character pulls a gun off of someone and it is attuned to a specific RFID chip then the gun is basically worthless if you don't even know the coding or signal the gun sends.

Ah, but does a gun just suddenly not working have the same effect on the runners? You could eventually get a gun like that working again, if you could be bothered to hack it, which just seems like drudgery to me.

Things that go boom are the ultimate explanation point. Besides, the explosion would not only require the owner to be dead, but would require it being taken away from his position without a password, to prevent those kinds of domino effects. Cunning, hmm?

And the explosion would be non lethal, and not even really all that dangerous, just 1 or 2 at the most. Basically a kink bomb.

This idea seemed to be glossed over. I think it's a good idea also. It doesn't have to be a contact, but a characters friend, and the person doesn't have to die. I like subtle things like this.

Hahaha, I agree, bad idea for SWAT teams, but I'm tempted to do this for my next PC!! (Even better since said PC will certainly be a drop bear.)

I do like this plan. It's unexpected and dastardly while still getting the point across.

There's a nice staged way to edumecate them. First, the fixer stops handling all the scut work. They wanna sell a dozen Predators, he'll give them some names and they can deal with buyers. It's not worth his time.

1. Have the first buyers be a couple of gangers who are happy as long as the guns shoot. They're happy they made some cash.

2. The second buyers are shadowrunners from the other side of town. When they find serial numbers and corp ID stickers still on the magazines they reject the guns and make snide comments.

3. Let the party loots several somewhat distinctive weapons (Asian knockoff Smartguns from some "gangers") after they learn to do basic sanitization. If you are in a good mood when they sell the buyer backs out for no obvious reason, causing them to ask their contacts and find out the guns are from a Yakuza team and their buyer could turn them in. If you're in a bad mood, the buyers are a couple of Yak physads who beat the crap out of the team.

4. The gangers from (1) get into a rumble at the PCs favorite hangout, shooting up the place, maybe wounding a couple of contacts. The gang leader loudly yells to the PCs, "hey man, these guns you sold us work great but I think we need some more!"

Not to mention what the guys signing up for SWAT might think. "My family gets to bury what again?"

As someone who works in Law enforcement I would say that tracking any fallen officers weapon is a priority, and anyone caught in possession of it would be a hurting unit.

I'm in tears and think I may have wet myself!!! what comes around goes around on a grand dramatic scale

Have a random body infected with HMHVV or something similar. The unlucky player that loots that body gets the disease, you force them to have to break into a lab somewhere to steal some experimental drug that has yet to be released.

Now that right there is epic.