General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: When You Cannot Pass Even Reasonable Guns Laws In The Light Of Massacres You Are Beyond Hope. [View all]Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)In order to stamp out the remaining 15,000 accidental deaths/homicides we're told we have to sign on to an "assault" weapon ban (and other chicanery) even though semi-automatic rifles account for less than 200 deaths annually. How many homicides and accidental shootings involve alcohol?
Meanwhile, the 15,000 deliberately self-inflicted tragedies aren't even a factor in the gun control agenda. Oh, sure, the controllers want the people contemplating suicide disarmed but the underlying mental illness receives no attention. If the underlying illness were treated then the gun wouldn't even be an issue. But gun control advocates need a body count so those 15,000 are sacrificial lambs.
Teen drinking steals 1600 lives annually. That's the equivalent of 1 and a half Sandy Hooks EVERY WEEK.
We have tens of thousands of live shattered by drunk drivers every year despite strict laws, PSA's, check points and a veritable industry surrounding DUI's.
Then there are the hundreds of thousands of sexual assault victims annually. Over 70% of SAs involve alcohol but less than 7% involve guns. A woman who chooses to arm herself has a 93% of having more power at her disposal than her attacker. The other 7% are on equal terms. Women just won the right to join the military and fight for the US but we're supposed to believe they're too dangerous to protect themselves from predators.
Then there are the literally TENS OF MILLIONS of men, women and children who EVERY DAY live in terror of an abusive domestic partner who has succumb to alcohol fueled rages. EVERY DAY they live with being pummeled, kicked, battered and degraded. Many are killed outright, mostly without a gun.
What are the public health care costs of and lost productivity from this violence and carnage? When do those people garner even a scintilla of the faux concern expressed day-after-day? Why are these millions of lives not as important?
A Clinton administration DOJ report said guns are used defensively 1.7 million times a year.
So, let's add all that up and compare.
15,000,000 vs. 15,000? A thousand to 1? 0.1%? This is compassion?
If it was truly about the human cost there are scourges far deadlier than guns. At least guns have multiple legitimate uses; there is no use for alcohol save recreation (No, I'm not a teetotaler). Any argument for gun control can just as easily be made for alcohol control. Yet, they won't because we all know the folly of Prohibition. My only conclusion is: it's not about caring for human life it is about a cynical and presumptive effort to disarm good people. Only an untrustworthy fiend wants to disarm people who are content to live undisturbed as they disturb no one else.