ALERT: this is way off topic for my little blog about my little food business in Chicago.  But I have to get this out of my head.

Politically, I’m a solutionist.  I know lots of our problems are very complicated, but guns don’t seem like a complicated problem to me.  And I keep thinking, I can’t be smarter than anyone else…

What if a gun were like a car?

1. People get to buy any gun they want.
2. You have to have a license to operate the gun. You need to pass a test about gun safety to get the license. You have to renew your license.
3. Folks would be required to carry insurance on their guns.
4. Cops can request “license and registration” to verify you’re good to carry your gun.
5. You license could get suspended if you don’t play by the rules.
6. Every gun would be registered.  The property title would transfer when purchased, whether at a dealership, show or in a private sale.

I never hear a debate about our constitutional rights being violated around what we go through to own/operate a car. We have the DMV’s and Sec of State offices in all 50 states where this could get done.  Government gets fees and oversight.  Police get to verify gun owners are safe operators. Citizens get to own guns, and we all get safer.

As I woke up this morning to another heartbreaking story on the news, I had to write this down. Each day, I pray Americans can stop insulting and shouting, and start respectfully listening and discussing.

PS- the day after I posted this entry, President Obama used the automobile analogy on PBS during a town hall session.

PPS- and Time Magazine had a piece on how the Swiss manage to have a pro-gun culture without all our mass shootings.