Ice cream trucks are an icon of childhood summers. Just when you think it can't get any hotter, you hear that tinkling (and sometimes, really creepy) music and know that relief is on its way.

Communities across the country, however, are starting to pay more attention to who's behind the wheel of their neighborhood ice cream truck.

Spearheaded, possibly, by a handful of incidences where children found themselves in the hands (and trucks) of sexual predators working as ice cream truck drivers, officials in several states are passing laws that require strict background checks before hiring. Many are looking to ban criminals from this kind of employment altogether.

Our local neighborhood ice cream truck is owned by a close family friend of my parents, so this is an issue I've never considered before. It seems like common sense that people who have been convicted of crimes against children shouldn't be allowed to drive around in a rolling kid magnet, handing out ice cream...ever. But sweeping background checks for past convictions of any type seems like overkill to me. What do you think?