Dizzy from a Steady Diet of Guns.
Written by universl man
Monday, 28 January 2013 17:48
With over 10,000 gun related homicides and over 30,000 total gun deaths per year in the US, at some point we must face the fact that guns do kill people, often against the will of their owners. I would suspect that most of these deaths are regretted by almost everybody.
I am not sure how even a functional Congress could fix this. Our statistics for a so called advanced country are disappointing when compared with reducing deaths from say smoking or car crashes. Perhaps allowing the public health community to compile accurate statistics on gun related deaths would be a start. Universal background checks for all gun purchases seems like a no-brainer too, although I understand lots of people see this as worse than unnecessary.
In ten years, 21 deaths in the US were ruled as caused by stuck accelerator pedals. In 2010, this problem caused panic in the auto industry and immediate attention. Should not 30,000 deaths a year, many including the innocent be grounds for a serious plan to fix this?
I am not sure how even a functional Congress could fix this. Our statistics for a so called advanced country are disappointing when compared with reducing deaths from say smoking or car crashes. Perhaps allowing the public health community to compile accurate statistics on gun related deaths would be a start. Universal background checks for all gun purchases seems like a no-brainer too, although I understand lots of people see this as worse than unnecessary.
In ten years, 21 deaths in the US were ruled as caused by stuck accelerator pedals. In 2010, this problem caused panic in the auto industry and immediate attention. Should not 30,000 deaths a year, many including the innocent be grounds for a serious plan to fix this?
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Also, these "massacres" that have made the news so much, only happen in places where the victims are already disarmed, mentally and physically. The mall was a no-gun zone, the theater confiscated movie-patrons' guns, schools haven't allowed their faculty to defend themselves with guns since the 1970s.
Background checks sound like a great idea, but we both know that if someone wants something, from drugs to guns to ingress into our country, they WILL get it and give us the Finger for saying no. All we can hope to do is punish that. Sadly, we've weakened our police in most places to the point that all they can do is write the offender a TICKET! That'll show'em...excep t it WON'T!
As to the car analogy, more people are killed from drunk drivers than guns, knives, and hammers PUT TOGETHER! What kind of "background check" will stop that?
Your contention that the massacres only happen in places where the victims have been "disarmed" by regulation is simply false. We live in a country with almost one gun for every citizen. Also we live where people generally do what they please, including carrying concealed weapons, regardless of what the sign says next to the door.
Besides, my point is not that regulations necessarily need strengthening. My point is that over thirty thousand deaths a year mostly of innocent people is important, and not to be simply dismissed based on anyone's right to do anything. Get it?
http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm
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