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One problem clearly outweighs all the rest in Alabama.

We just don't have enough people carrying around unpermitted loaded weapons in cars. People just aren't cocked and ready to go on the highways.

Thankfully, Sen. Gerald Allen, a Republican from Tuscaloosa, is smart enough to see the conundrum, and bold enough to do something about it. Last week he stepped up and planted his flag right on that beach.

None of this stuff about budget deficits or healthcare costs for Allen. No more dilly-dallying around with all that guff about jobs or education, or Snap-Chatting while driving. Allen is visionary enough to see that he will never be able to do anything about those families in Alabama who live as if in a third world nation.

But he can step right up and sponsor a bill that will allow Alabamians to keep a loaded gun in their cars without a permit.

The bold Sen. Gerald Allen, who has a fine grasp on the issues that ail Alabama.

He doesn't care if cops say it is dumb as a bag of dead beavers and explosive as nitroglycerin. Allen knows what is important. More guns. At the ready. On the road.

Clearly this is needed. The day Allen announced plans to sponsor the bill only one person in Alabama -- only one single solitary driver in the whole state -- accidentally shot himself while driving.

And that guy was reaching for his cell phone, which really ought to be illegal. Come on, man. Don't talk and drive. Do that in Vestavia Hills and you'd be booked for distracted driving before you can say "ouch."

Cops say that man was driving in the early afternoon on Interstate 759 in Gadsden. He got a call on his cell, reached for the phone in his pocket and - kapow - shot himself in the leg. It was much ado about nothing. As William Thornton reported it, a passenger - who was fine, by the way - reached out and grabbed the wheel as the man passed out.

And that's all we have. One little accidental discharge on the day Allen announced his bill. One.

Of course there was another case last week - the same week -- in which a guy sitting in the back of a car in Huntsville shot a pedestrian in the leg. But hey, it's not like he died or anything.

But still people like Bobby Timmons of the Alabama Sheriff's Association whine like babies, worrying that allowing people to carry loaded guns in their cars could spawn more road rage, that it could be dangerous to ... everybody.

More road rage? Come on. Psychologists will tell you it's important to let your feelings out. Alabama needs to learn to express itself.

Timmons is just a worrywart. He just knows bypassing the whole permitting process (and all those pesky background checks that go with it) will make police have to work harder.

I mean sure, you can look for cases like the one in Montgomery last month in which a guy fleeing the cops apparently fired a few shots at police before crashing his car, killing himself and seriously injuring a toddler in his car. If everybody had guns in their cars they could have taken care of that guy (and the kid) long before he crashed.

Allen's bill will solve problems. Take Joseph Taylor Jr. (please) in Montgomery. Earlier this month, according to police, he shot a guy from his car. But Taylor didn't fire a pistol. He fired a rifle, and hit a man in the back. If he had had a loaded pistol - as Allen would allow -- he might have missed.

It is time to give Allen his due. Thank heavens for people like the senator who, without a doubt, provides a shining example of the problem that clearly outweighs all the rest in Alabama.