Abstract: Embodiments of an irreversible locking mechanism are presented herein. According to one embodiment, an irreversible locking mechanism comprises a body, a gate, and a spring-loaded pin. The body comprises two opposing ends separated by a gap. The gate is supported by a first of the two opposing ends and advances from the first opposing end to span the gap and engage a second of the two opposing ends such that the gate is engaged with the first and second opposing ends of the body. The gate transitions from an advancing state, where the spring-loaded pin is depressed within a seat in the first opposing end by the gate and the gate is free to span the gap, to an irreversible locked state, where the gate engages the second opposing end and the spring-loaded pin projects from the seat in the first opposing end into a catch of the gate.