Despite steadily dropping rates of violent crime, Americans remain very concerned about horrific levels of gun violence inflicted not only by criminal acts, but by accident, often involving children. Last year, 30,000 people in this country were killed by firearms. On average, one child is shot and killed each day.

But despite this continuing epidemic, the national debate on gun control remains mired in a classic dialogue of the deaf. Gun control opponents, including most Republican politicians, continue to argue that restrictions on firearms unfairly burden their use for self-protection or hunting by law-abiding citizens. In fact, the GOP has in many states (most notably George W. Bush's Texas) pushed for getting more guns into circulation through laws allowing people without criminal records to carry concealed weapons--in effect urging Americans to conduct a personal arms race against gun-toting criminals.

Gun control advocates counter this "more guns" strategy with a "fewer guns" approach that makes it harder for bad actors to get firearms by creating more hurdles for their purchase or use by anyone. While we firmly stand in the "fewer guns" camp, it's time to identify a "Third Way" that can overcome not only the gun lobby and its Republican allies, but legitimate concerns about personal safety.

The first step toward this Third Way is to think about guns as we would about any other legal but extremely dangerous product. In a society that not only accepts but demands child-proof caps on aspirin bottles, it's reasonable to require that producers of firearms take every technologically feasible step to make their products safe against abuse in the wrong hands.

In fact, such steps are now available and should be expanded as rapidly as possible. John D. Cohen, a nationally recognized expert on crime-fighting technology, and director of the Progressive Policy Institute's new project on Crime and Public Order, says:

Currently a manufacturer sells an internal trigger lock that requires a gun user to push three buttons on the handle of a gun--in specific order--before that gun can be fired. In the near future, safety-enhancing capabilities will improve. For example, one manufacturer has produced a gun that contains a small radio receiver. The gun can only be fired by a person wearing a radio transmitter contained in a ring. Advancements in microchip technology will enable guns to be programmed to read the fingerprints of the user, thereby precluding its use by an unauthorized user.

Last week, the Clinton Administration indicated it would request $10 million from Congress in its next budget to support research on "smart guns." Last year, GOP Congressmen shot down an even smaller request. It appears that many Republicans are determined to avoid any technological progress that could make it possible to maintain gun rights for the law-abiding public while restricting access to guns by guilty thugs or innocent kids.

Aside from supporting "smart gun" research, lawmakers at the federal, state, and local levels should keep the pressure up on gun manufacturers to accept the same principles of consumer safety that govern all other producers of dangerous products.

And until "smart guns" are generally available, it's important to make it as hard and as dangerous as possible to move guns across the line that separates the good guys from the bad guys. In Maryland, Governor Parris Glendening and Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend have launched an initiative called Operation Cease Fire aimed at targeting the black market for illegal firearms sales. Its centerpiece was an executive order requiring that every gun recovered after its use in a crime be traced through ballistics tests to determine how it got into the wrong hands.

Getting smart on guns means both developing new technologies and insisting on the comprehensive use of those already available. It's the best, and perhaps, the only way to break out of the false choice between arming or disarming virtually every American.