In the interest of splitting hairs.. this is 'state socialism' as in the money was forcefully acquired from tax payers and handed out to corporations. More than likely, the same corporations that gave campaign donations. Efficiency comes about from people managing risk and maximizing their return on investment. With government, people aren't held accountable and are often incentivized to fail since they can just come ask for more tax money. If you want real socialistic approach why not form a co-op and pool your money to achieve your goal? Ultimately relying on the government safety net instead of self reliance will just lead to more and more disappointment.

I myself have worked at the Smart Gun Project at the university I attend. Me and friend worked there in spring 2000 and it seemed very much like the project was going nowhere. The department in charge of the project however did enjoy the 1 million dollars of New Jersey State tax money for buying new computers and fancy IKEA furniture. The project was getting some pressure from the parties funding it so about a year later the hired some programmers from Russia and tried to do some experiments with some flimsy sensors that broke easily and data glove which was primarily useful in the publicity pics for the department. In the end they produced a long report detailing how smart gun can't be efficiently made, atleast not anytime in the remote future. I could have done that for a lot less than a million dollars.