At Moyers and Company, Bill Moyers urges us to remember the victims of gun violence
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“In 2011, guns were used to murder 8,583 people living in the U.S., according to the most recent FBI data available. Among those murdered by guns, there were 565 young people under the age of 18, and 119 children ages 12 or younger — the latter number nearly equivalent to six Newtown mass shootings. And these figures include only homicides.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/child-gun-deaths-newtown_n_2347920.html
From http://www.duifoundation.org/drunkdriving/accidents/vehicularhomocide/: “Statistics show that almost twice as many people die in vehicle crashes per year than by any other form of homicide. Also, more people are murdered in crashes where alcohol is involved per year than are killed by guns.” So what’s the point of quoting statistics without context?
See also http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/05/bruce-krafft/comparing-car-and-gun-fatalities-is-misleading-and-irrelevant/
As I have indicated in other threads, guns are lethal weapons, so complaining about their lethality is pointless. (It is a bit like complaining that a knife is sharp — what did you expect?) The real problem is that people are choosing to use lethal weapons FIRST, in far too many cases where that choice should be LAST (if at all). That is an entirely different situation.
Important fact being left out:
70%-80% of ALL gun violence for any locality is committed by repeat offenders. Even that ends up being only about 6% of all “hardened” criminals. Do you really think the gun in the problem? Maybe that should be “Rememberance of repeat offender violence”.
311,000,000 people in the U.S. in 2011
That means less than 0.00003% of the population
In 2011, over 19k people died in the U.S. from accidental perscription overdose. That is over twice the gun homicide number. Where is their “rememberance” day? Should we ban perscription drugs?
And more than 10,000 people die every year in drunk driving accidents. Should we therefore ban alcohol? No, we tried that once and it failed, miserably, in part because the industry went underground, became very profitable, and then became violent (much like today’s trade in illegal drugs).
Also, the murder statistics don’t mention the number of lives saved, crimes prevented, criminals apprehended, etc., by people who had guns. We don’t hear much about those sorts of things, because they don’t make gripping headlines the way a shooting does. The murder statistics also don’t mention the number of crimes that might have been prevented if more people were to carry a gun. We like to think we are protected by the police, but far too often their job is to tape off the crime scene *after* the crime has been committed.
BTW, here’s my solution to stopping terrorists who try to hijack airplanes: issue a taser to every adult passenger. Then if a crazy guy tries to hijack the plane, there’d be a dozen people nearby who could instantly drop him to the floor — non-lethally and without blowing a hole in the fuselage.
Also, like it or not, guns are a major part of U.S. export trade (i.e., they help reduce the U.S. trade deficit). They are also a major part of U.S. foreign policy: guns are often a key bargaining chip in helping the U.S. foster friendly relations with developing countries. When rebels in an oppressive nation (Libya, Syria, etc.) ask for help, they want weapons, and everybody knows that if the U.S. doesn’t provide them, then the Russians or the Chinese probably will (and then they would have the political influence that goes with it).
Bottom line: I agree with Moyers that we should remember the victims of gun violence. But we should not stop there. We should remember the victims of all preventable death, whether by a gun, a drunk driver, a polluting corporate CEO, a medical error, or even a texting driver. Every preventable death is a tragedy.
I LOVE the taser idea!
“Alse equiped with this 373 model airline is a taser underneith your floatation device. In the event of a water landing, use one, in the event of a terrorist attack, use the other. Can I have a volunteer for a demonstration?”