A week ago I had a discussion on the radio about guns that I wish the nation were having right now. Frank Miniter is the author of a new book, The Future of the Gun. In one of the chapters he talked about technology that can alleviate some of the legitimate concerns raised by parents and law enforcement.

For example, we can put biometric scanners on guns that can see through sweat and even blood. It would only allow certain people to fire the gun. You may have seen this in the 2012 James Bond movie, Skyfall, or in the earlier 1989 Bond film, License to Kill. Parents who would like to have a handgun for protection are always afraid that their children might find someway to get their hands on their gun. This technology would only allow a parent to fire the gun.

In this case, the technology is not the problem. Politics is the problem. We can put this on guns right now, but gun opponents want this technology on all guns and would want to confiscate older guns that do not have this smart technology.

Another example is the ability we have to create a smart gun for law enforcement that would use a time stamp to record when a gun is fired and could even access GPS technology to keep track of the officer’s gun. We might even be able to put a small camera on a polymer gun to record what the officer saw before he or she fired the gun.

Smart gun technology would be helpful in trials and police investigations. This would be even more effective than body cameras. Police unions, however, generally are against implementing this technology and fear the impact this might have on police actions in the field.

Nevertheless, smart gun technology might resolve some of the questions and concerns that surface in the gun debate. This is the discussion we should be having right now.