Another diary in a series that exposes the Washington emotional manipulation of a fundamental American right.
Gun control: the myth of the accidental firearm discharge...
Damon turns to Racquel and whispers a secret in her ear; "My daddy has a gun and it's really big. Want to see it?"
A half-hour later, Racquel is lying on the floor. She will be dead before she arrives at the hospital. The more humorous (and more common) variant of this sad scenario is the one in which Darrel turns to his second-half-cousin and says "hey, watch this"...
Accidental firearm discharge (or, as more commonly called within the shooting community "negligent discharge") resulted in death in the United States 661 times in 2004 according to the CDC. That's nearly 2 per day!
Each occurance is a tragedy. It sounds like an epidemic...until you compare it to other causes of death.
More beyond the fold...
Our one major complaint about the right (in particular the social conservatives) is their inherent predisposition towards approaching a problem emotionally instead of rationally. It's not always easy to to discern when we fall into the same trap ourselves.
If we are going to take the anti-gun approach on the grounds of reducing accidental deaths in America, let's take a look at policies that would actually bear fruit. Just how deadly are these firearms in relation to other causes of death?
There were 108,694 accidental deaths in 2004. That's 298 people every day. Put another way, that's 296 that weren't accidentally killed by a firearm. 2/3 of 1% reduction if all firearms magically disappeared tomorrow. Not a terribly effective target for regulation if safety is our goal.
Let's take a look at some of the other, more deadly accidents that happen on a given day. Perhaps we can come up with a new policy that will save lives.
-Land transport accidents, not involving a motor vehicle.
On the same day that Darrel and Racquel died, 3 people died in this fashion. Do you allow your loved ones to have access to rollerskates, bicycles,pogo-sticks and big-wheels? Perhaps we should ban them, as they have proven themselves much more dangerous than firearms. This is actually preferable, as there's no mention of a "right to skateboard" anywhere in the Bill of Rights.
-"Water, air and space, and other and unspecified transport accidents and their sequelae"
Five people died on the same day by accidentally killing themselves and/or others in this fashion. This might include innertubing, kayaking, flying in a light plane, a space-shuttle, or sledding down a hill. This sort of brazen foolishness is more than twice as likely to kill you as a firearm. It must be banned at once!
-Accidental drowning and submersion
9 people a day. Few people who would not dare allow a firearm in their home realize the danger lurking in their very own bathroom. The swimming pool in their backyard? A gaping maw of death, ready to devour the unwary!
Water is deadly. We must ensure that it is not collected by private citizens (the government is, of course, exempt) for our own safety.
-Accidental exposure to smoke, fire and flames
Another 9 people a day (by the way, these numbers are cumulative, folks)!
Ever hear the phrase "die in a fire"? Do you leave loaded firearms around where an unwary toddler could get ahold of it? No? What about your bic lighter? Fire is dangerous, folks! The common American citizen is simply too irresponsible to be allowed to handle it.
Now we get into the really deadly accidental causes of death...
-Falls. That is, accidentally falling out of/off of/down/ under something and tragically removing yourself from the gene pool.
I personally think there should be a 5 day waiting period before being allowed to purchase a ladder. Climbing the stairs? Sure...if you have passed the stair-climbing background check and attended the mandatory training. Better yet, let's ban stairs altogether and mandate elevators in all private residences instead. If we can eradicate the scourge of high places in America, we can save 51 lives a day
FIFTY ONE!!
-"Other and unspecified nontransport accidents and their sequelae"
This is the catch-all term for especially inventive recipients of Darwin awards not-otherwise-specified. Point in fact, firearms are by far the smallest source of accidental death in the U.S. that are given their own category.
This generic term covers medical mis-diagnosis/malpractice (twice as deadly as firearms in '02), killed by a stingray, crushed by a vending machine, etc.
We must ban everything that could even possibly pose a threat!
This will save 46 lives each and every day!
-Accidental poisoning and exposure to noxious substances
This one is a no-brainer. How many toxic chemicals do you currently have in your house? If you're a conscientious parent like myself, you keep your firearms inside a combination locked safe. But what about that bottle of pine-sol? Or that bottle of antifreeze?
Poisons cause 53 accidental deaths every day! Fifty three! Just think of it! All of a sudden, 2 is starting to look pretty miniscule. Tragic, but still miniscule...
Now we get to the big killer:
-Motor vehicle accidents: 43,947 lives lost to motor vehicle accidents in '04! That's one hundred and twenty people each and every day! We are sacraficing our loved ones on the altar of internal combustion efficiency! Motor vehicles are the single deadliest contraption in America. There's no excuse for allowing American citizens anywhere near one. They must all be banned immediately!
Perhaps we could collect all of our motor vehicles and give them to the terrorists. They would all surely die in short order!
This illustrates the absurdity of the notion that gun control has anything to do with the notion of public safety due to accidents.
You don't like guns because they're scary, not because they're a significant source of accidental deaths. And you're losing votes each and every cycle because of it.
All data ctsy http://www.cdc.gov/...