Cars have become a lot safer. Guns haven’t.
Posted by Christopher Ingraham on Thursday, December 17, 2015
So let’s talk about guns for a moment. America, as a country, has gotten itself into a stupid place where we can’t talk about guns at all—because apparently, even the mention of the very concept of the consideration of talking about limits on guns infringes on the inalienable right of individuals to arm themselves to the teeth and enter any place the desire so armed.
I’m sorry, that is a complete and utter crock.
Now, I’m not a gun hater. I took my daughter to the pistol range at age 13 to let her shoot. We enjoyed ourselves, we’ve gone back, and I look forward to continuing going to the range with her in the future. Guns have an appeal to them.
By the same token, guns are dangerous. Period. They are objects whose function is to kill. There are many things that are dangerous and CAN kill—but killing is an unintended (and unwanted) result of improper use, malfunction, etc. With a gun, killing is the intended result of proper use. That makes guns dangerous.
With anything else that’s dangerous, we do certain things to reduce the risk of using them. We do safety research. We license use. We require training. We may restrict access to certain types of things until competency is demonstrated. And we work to improve the technology to make things safer.
We do it with cars. People don’t feel as if their rights are threatened by having to take a test and get a license to drive—or to need special training for driving semis or motorcycles …
We do it with professions. We don’t let just anyone wire up a house, or connect up a gas line; we insist they get trained and certified before setting up shop.
But guns? For all the talk about “responsible gun owners,” we seem loathe to consider ensuring that gun ownership is indeed responsible. And that is stupid.
When you look at the Post article linked above, the points I want you to take from it are these:
- Gun deaths have surpassed automobile deaths not because gun deaths have risen (they have, slightly), but instead because automobile deaths have declined consistently;
- Gun deaths COULD be on the decline if similar efforts to characterize the risks, ensure user competence, and improve the technology were undertaken;
- The gun lobby has systematically worked to prevent research, data collection, and technology implementations that would increase safety and reduce deaths.
We don’t need to have a conversation about guns because a radicalized Christian American shoots up a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado. We don’t need to have a conversation about guns because a radicalized Muslim American shoots up an office party in California. We need to have a conversation about guns because people are being killed, in ones and twos, daily, all across the country—and we take that as routine.
Not talking about it—not finding a way to reduce the needless loss of life—is the epitome of stupid. Let’s talk. Let’s #StampOutStupid.
I actually took the time to look at gun deaths in the US the other day. I’m with you in that I don’t characterize myself as a fanatic one way or the other. However, I was a little surprised by the hard numbers. I got mine from the FBI statistics before the CDC numbers were published. The hard numbers indicate that the problem is not deaths from guns during crimes. The true problem is suicide by gun. Take out the number of suicide deaths from guns and the number is astonishingly small, especially for the western states where everyone seems to have guns. But then the West is a place where gun safety courses are held in every small town on a weekly basis. Guns are dangerous, so are cars, airplanes, rat poison, and a thousand other things they can be compared to. In the west, we educate, educate and educate when it comes to guns. Like you we also go out with our kids and shoot with them in controlled environments so they know how to be safe. The guns are already out there and that particular genie has left the bottle and won’t be going back. I guess what makes this a tragedy is that no one has a universal answer, how do you teach inner city kids gun safety or teach them in a supervised / controlled environment? Is there any kind of meaningful program that can address gun/suicides in the west? We are a big nation with all kinds of social environments. One thing I do know, is that a “one-size fits-all” legislative answer is never going to fly and in your words, is “stupid”.
Dale –
I agree 100% that a “one size fits all” approach will not fit. It’s a complex issue with lots of moving parts; any “fixes” will need to be incremental with the goal of making things better, rather than perfect.
One issue I have with your comment – and it’s a subtle point – is your description of suicde by gun as “the true problem”. There is no “the” problem. There are a multitude of problems, all deserving attention. Some (like suicide) are very hard; others (like toddlers shooting toddlers) may be easier.
Using language like “THE problem is” carries an implication that that’s the piece that should be looked at, to the exclusion of all others. It’s like the story of the six blind men and the elephant. Everyone sees a different piece of the puzzle, and nobody ends up agreeing on anything.
To me, the right approach is to acknowledge that there are many issues to address, and to look at a broad array of strategies to address them – keeping in mind that while it’s nice to find an approach that will save hundreds, doing something that saves even one is a win.