My Shot at Gun Change

I was approached -- some might say confronted -- in my Twitterverse the other day about gunsense. What would I do, Mr. Smarty Pants, communist-loving, anti-freedom monster who has no respect for the misdeeds of the past? How would I go about taking away all the guns ... I mean, it's not the NRA's fault ... people die every day in Chicago!

Which was essentially the gist of their ramblings. But it got me thinking. I haven't really seen anyone planning out a multi-part strategy for ridding the nation and our enforcement sectors of the guns they really, really, really don't need and shouldn't have. So while I answered off the cuff, in retrospect, I kind of like the tendencies in my brain fart.

So here's my take on how to set our culture on the course of gun change:

PART 1: Start by doubling the size of America's law enforcement community. Yes, that's what I said. Double the size of America's law enforcement troops.

But the fine print is important; the caveat has to be that these officers would only be armed with the monitoring technology to watch what they do, and would then be given access to a growing and major investment of the armaments for quality community and neighborhood empowerment.

For each officer on the street with a gun, another mirrors him (or her) with the wisdom of other tactics.

PART 2: See, without guns, these officers would be forced to use and showcase the core ideas of protecting and serving the citizenry. In so doing, they would readily demonstrate to the troops who remain married to the idea that they are more than happy to pry guns away from someone else's cold, dead fingers, that there is a better way.

And low and behold, very soon it will be possible to begin phasing out the Wild West officers, replacing them with justice lovers who glow with the authority of respect, not with the fear of guns.

PART 3: For good measure, however, I would add one more element. We have proven that quality, interesting social media and commercial messages work. So I would get corporate America to see the wisdom of the ways that they can play to send out the message to everyone that guns are about as far from cool as possible.

And presto-chango: We've fixed an entire culture without so much as giving up a core freedom.

Your move gun buddies. Show me the selfie perspective you have on what it will take to fix this messed up part of the American society.