Nothing is Ever Lost

The other day I posted an idea on Facebook about gun safety.  I received a few responses, none of them in agreement. I had hoped that would be the case.  As my father said;  "That's what makes horse races."

Here's what I proposed:

Let's use modern technology to design a mechanism whereby a gun can be rendered inoperable, remotely, by it's lawful, registered owner.

"OnStar" can find a car and make it so it can't be driven.  A push of a button from some office somewhere and the automobile won't run.

Imagine a lost or stolen gun equipped with similar technology.  The owner pushes a button and the gun won't work.  Another way of putting it is that the owner pushes a button and nobody dies.

Using this sort of safeguard will allow law enforcement to track and interdict stolen weapons before they are used to rob, rape or kill someone.  GPS allows us to find the local pizza joint by simply putting a request into our smartphone or laptop.  The same technology could be used to find lost or stolen guns, whether they be 9mm, 12 gauge or AK.

The only person who would be able to deactivate the weapon would be the owner.  He, alone, would have the code, which he created, much like the codes we have for our secure bank accounts and credit cards.

There would be no legislation to allow government to force an individual to relinquish the codes.  It would be up to the individual gun owner as to whether or not he chose to use his proprietary code to stop his gun from firing.  But most people would chose to do so if they knew it could save a life (lives) or, at a minimum, return their expensive property.

Second amendment defenders should have no problem with this solution any more than with "OnStar", for example.  No one's right to own a gun is being challenged.  It would just be another tool in the effort to stem the violence, even if it saved just one life.

Certainly, there would be people who would endeavor to circumvent the technology.  But that should not be reason enough to back away from the idea.  If lives can be saved it's worth a look.  As my father also used to say, "If they can put a man on the Moon..."

But the problem is, and will continue to be, the elected officials who stand in the way of sane legislation and civil conversation.  They are too imprisoned by their relationship with the gun lobby and too afraid to take a stand against some of their constituents.

It's too bad we don't have a button that we could push to deactivate those morally corrupt, greedy and tone deaf politicians.

Oh...we do?  It's called what?  The vote?

Oh...I forgot...