So let's see what the major killers are, in order from most to least deaths. Source: CDC
- Heart disease: 597,689
- Cancer: 574,743
- Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 138,080
- Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 129,476
- Accidents (unintentional injuries): 120,859
- Alzheimer's disease: 83,494
- Diabetes: 69,071
- Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,476
- Influenza and Pneumonia: 50,097
- Intentional self-harm (suicide): 38,364
Gun violence doesn't even make it into the top ten. According to this PDF where the list is extended on page 19, we find that all the way at the bottom, number fifteen, is death by Pneumonitus, which I've never heard of and had to look up. It's lung inflammation near as I can tell (thanks Wikipedia). The chart lists fatalities in 2010 as 5.5 per 100,000 people, which over a population of 310 million is 17,500 deaths from Pneumonitus. Gun fatalities don't make it into the top fifteen things most likely to kill you.
Now most of the things up there are diseases, and I can see the argument now, something like this: "It's not always possible to stop diseases and we do devote tremendous resources into stopping those diseases. We need to focus on other things that we can control to reduce unnecessary deaths." I concede the point, so what up there can we influence more? The only one on the list that fits this criteria is accidents.
Back to the CDC's website (got to love a website dedicated to keeping track of how people die right?) and we find this:
All unintentional injury deaths
- Number of deaths: 120,859
- Deaths per 100,000 population: 39.1
- Cause of death rank: 5
Unintentional fall deaths
- Number of deaths: 26,009
- Deaths per 100,000 population: 8.4
Motor vehicle traffic deaths
- Number of deaths: 33,687
- Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.9
Unintentional poisoning deaths
- Number of deaths: 33,041
- Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.7
And that brings me to a critical fact. Education, not regulation, is the key to fixing problems related to accidents. 33,000 people die every year on the road. How many could be saved if "Drivers Ed" actually taught you how to drive, that is, taught you how to regain control of a vehicle, how to drive in inclement weather, and how to take evasive action, etc etc. How many lives could be saved? Is this not a much better use of our time and effort than restricting the rights of citizens in a twisted attempt to stop criminals who don't obey the law to begin with? More on that later.
So with all the people up in arms (pun intended) over gun violence because of a recent tragic event, where does gun violence come in? Well according to the CDC again:
Firearm homicides
- Number of deaths: 11,078
- Deaths per 100,000 population: 3.6
Chicago is a poster child for this concept: gun regulation doesn't prevent gun violence, it exacerbates it. They had 500 murders in 2012, yet it's illegal to own, carry, buy, sell, transport, and maybe even look at a gun of any type in that city. Only this past week, a girl who had performed at Obama's inauguration was killed in Chicago. Shot dead while sheltering from the rain with friends. In January 2013, yes last month as of today, they had 40 murders. Regulation isn't solving the problem.
Yet look at Houston, Texas. Another prosperous city, but few restrictions on guns. They had 216 murders last year, one of the lowest in the nation for large cities. The gun laws aren't stopping any one from killing in Chicago, yet in Houston, you have the option of carrying a gun to defend yourself and the number of murders is less than half of Chicago's.
Don't forget that many murders are criminal on criminal. As a law abiding citizen, if you can carry a gun, you're all the safer as you are more likely to encounter rapists and robbers than some one who's direct intent is killing you. Gunfacts.info reports that citizens draw their guns to defend themselves, others, or property nearly 2.5 million times a year. That 2.5 million crimes that DON'T happen because of law abiding heat packers.
What Adam Lanza did was a terrible thing, but regulations will not stop a mad man. Criminals don't follow the law. They can get illegal guns when citizens can't get legal ones. He stole legally owned weapons from his mother, and killed her for them. These are not the actions of a normal person that takes right and wrong into consideration, these are the actions of some one who is deeply disturbed or very removed from reality. The criminals will always have guns, one way or another. It remains to be seen if the People will as well.
Putting signs up advertising the places where guns are illegal is also the dumbest thing I can possibly think of doing. Actually no, making public places where it's illegal to carry weapons is the dumbest thing ever, advertising these places is the second.
We are literally advertising to criminals where the best places to commit crimes are. All they have to do is look for this sign and they know it's theirs to do as they please.
Oh, and the guns that Lanza stole, they all complied with the "Assault Weapons Ban" in Connecticut. The guns were legal, the mags were all 10 round mags. Clearly the proposed laws would have done NOTHING to stop this maniac. You know what would though? A teacher with a gun. If you wouldn't trust a teacher with a gun to protect your child, why would you dare let them teach your child in the first place?
No this isn't about saving lives. I wish it were, then we could argue our case and make our points and win arguments, and get common sense deregulation implemented. No, this is about control, and that's why we can't get our point across because those seeking regulations have an agenda.
Gun regulations won't save any more lives, they will undoubtedly result in more deaths as more citizens will be disarmed, and the government knows this, THEY ARE THE ONES WHO DID THE STATISTICAL ANALYSES THAT PROVES THIS! Gunfacts.info
Our government, as I've said before in previous posts, is waxing tyrannical, and tyrants hate to be challenged. An unarmed population is no threat to tyranny, and they wish to disarm us by any means necessary. I urge you to contact your senators and your reps, both in the state and federal legislative branches. Let them know, not only do you want them to oppose all measures that would further restrict our ability to acquire weaponry, but warn them that if they don't you will actively work against them when they come up for reelection. Feinstein’s bill has been submitted. It must be opposed.
Don't let universal background checks fool you either. They want to use those to make a "No Buy" list just like the mysterious "No Fly" list. No one will know what triggers you being put on the list, but once your on, there is no way to get off. You just lose your rights, that easily.
Recording sales is Step 1, registration and/or restriction is Step 2, confiscation is Step 3. We are at Step 2, and we best get a move on because if we lose to Step 2, there is no stopping Step 3
Don't let them win the argument with pleads to emotion. Get the facts, and set the record straight.