Heart Disease, gun violence, and apathy. [View all]

[Kalidurga]

Over the last month there has been a lot of talk about gun violence and the statistics are nothing short of alarming. There have been 1102 deaths due to guns since Sandy Hook.

http://tinyurl.com/dxx9724

If this trend continues that will be over 12,000 this year alone. It is appalling that even in the face of such carnage many people are against strict gun regulation.


Heart disease on the other hand kills nearly 1 million people a year, slightly more women then men. Heart disease like gun violence is in many cases preventable. Like gun violence there is a great deal of apathy to the problem and sometimes hostility to people trying to bring preventive measures about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UpdatedHeartDiseaseMap.jpg

If you look at the map both gun violence and heart disease have an eerily similar geographic pattern. What interests me about this is that the people who suffer the most and have the most to lose if nothing changes are the most strident opponents of change. I would wonder why liberals care about these statistics since these things are far less prevalent in progressive areas. But, I don't wonder I know why liberals care. Liberals care about these issues because they are issues of human suffering that can be mitigated with stricter gun laws and enforcement and in the case of heart disease with education and resources devoted to alleviating the massive loss of life.

The other thing I find interesting is that people will claim they need a gun for protection. They will make this claim while scarfing down fries, highly processed frankenfood stuffs, and large quantities of alcohol with a cigarette dangling from their lips. I play to the stereo type of course, but in many cases I am probably not that far off. If you point out to a person like this (and I have) that they are much more likely to die of a preventable disease, they will say "well I have to die from something and I am going to have what I want."

Don't take this as blaming people who suffer from preventative diseases. I don't blame them. I understand a whole lot about what stress, culture, and lack of resources does to individuals. It is a lot to fight and there isn't a lot of real help. But, we still need to find a way to help people take control of their lives and focus on those things they can prevent and to lose their fear of some other coming after them with a gun. So they can live healthier lives and perhaps turn away from the desire to possess firearms.