Time to outlaw fatty food, sugar, alcohol, cars, tobacco, bathtubs....(let's take a moment to think)

[NightWatcher]

Mass murder is a Horrible crime, but every year people die. It is a gruesome reality but it happens. Let us not overreact every time that something happens. We do not cry out that alcohol be banned every time there is a DUI death, which would be every 30 minutes. In the case of the Omaha mall shooting it appears that the offender was suffering from mental illness. If we cry out about anything let's cry out for more dollars for study and treatment of mental illness.


a few facts from various reliable sources to consider:
__________________________________________________________________

In 2006, an estimated 17,602 people died in alcohol-related traffic crashes—an average of one every 30 minutes. These deaths constitute 41 percent of the 42,642 total traffic fatalities. Of these, an estimated 13,470 involved a driver with an illegal BAC (.08 or greater). http://www.madd.org/Drunk-Driving/Drunk-Driving/Statistics.aspx
__________________________________________________________________

Falls are the third leading cause of death for all ages, totaling 18,822 last year. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr55/nvsr55_19.pdf
__________________________________________________________________

Deaths by Major Causes, 1960–2004
(age-adjusted death rates per 100,000 population) http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005124.html


2004 Heart disease 217.5 Cancer 184.6 Diabetes 24.4 Chronic liver disease 8.8 Accidents 36.6 Suicide 10.7 Homicide 5.6

2003 Heart disease 232.3 Cancer 190.1 Diabetes 25.3 Chronic liver diease 9.3 Accidents 37.3 Suicide 10.8 Homicide 6.0
____________________________________________________________________

Mortality experience in 2004
In 2004, a total of 2,397,615 deaths occurred in the United States.
Life expectancy at birth was 77.8 years.

The 15 leading causes of death in 2004 were:
Diseases of heart(heartdisease)
Malignant neoplasms(cancer)
Cerebrovascular diseases(stroke)
Chronic lower respiratory diseases
Accidents (unintentional injuries)
Diabetes mellitus (diabetes)
Alzheimer’s disease
Influenza and pneumonia
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
(kidney disease)
Septicemia
Intentional self-harm (suicide)
Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
Essential (primary) hypertension and hypertensive renal disease (hypertension)
Parkinson’s disease
Assault (homicide)
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr55/nvsr55_19.pdf

[ewagner]

1. With apologies to Richard Pryor....

"...we need to outlaw "word-of-mouth-parties"....I had a friend who went to a word-of-mouth-party and just as he was walking out the door, an airplane fell on him...."

From Richard's first comedy album...

but seriously, some of this can be carried waaaaayyyy too far.

[EstimatedProphet]

2. Did guns cause this?

Seriously. Did guns cause this to happen? If he were clinically depressed, and wasn't able to get a gun, would he have still been able to hurt and possibly kill people?

Yes.

Guns may make a crime like this easier, but anyone who thinks that all the problems will go away simply because guns aren't accessible is fooling themselves. He could have just as easily grabbed an axe or a baseball bat and hurt people too.

[AlCzervik]

3. Well said.

:thumbsup:

[unpossibles]

4. true, BUT

imo, the will, effort, and up-closeness of killing people with a non-ballistic weapon would deter many. Guns allow dehumanization through distance. I agree it happens, and probably a lot more than most people realize, and I am not arguing for 'taking away guns" but I do think we need to be rational here. It is a lot harder to kill people, especially a group of people, without a gun.

[EstimatedProphet]

9. I certainly do agree with that

That falls into the gray area that most of us reside in, where the ban all guns/allow all guns people hate to go. Certainly gun control will stop some gun crime, but at what cost? My point always has been that we can be far more productive at reducing the gun crimes by addressing the issues that lead to them, rather than simply taking the guns away. Because IMO, to argue that just getting rid of guns will fix the problem is very naive, and assumes that the guns themselves cause the problems.

[stillcool]

5. That will work...

U.S. Prison Population Tops 2 Million
http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/censusstatistic/a/aaprisonpop.htm
1 in 142 US residents now in prison
America's prison population topped 2 million inmates for the first time in history on June 30, 2002 according to a new report from the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
------------------
Of the 1,200,203 state prisoners, 3,055 were younger than 18 years old. In addition, adult jails held 7,248 inmates under 18.

Confirmed Child Abuse Statistics

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_r...
Table 3-4 Victimization Trends, 2001-2005
Child Maltreatment 2005
2001 population-72,603,552- victims-904,666
2002 population-72,894,483- victims-897,168
2003 population-73,043,506- victims-893,296
2004 population-73,089,769- victims-876,937
2005 population-74,502,089- victims-899,454

• As of May 2006, an estimated 1,600 American children have lost a parent(s) to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• Each year around 300,000 children are temporarily removed and 65,000 to 70,000 of those children are ultimately taken from their parents forever, according to the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
• In 2004, 532,000 children were in foster care, doubling the number from 1997. Of those 532,000 only 129,000 had been cleared for adoption.
• In 2000, 1.5 million U.S. children had an incarcerated parent. Between 1990-2001, the number of women in prison increased by 106%.
• 60% of females who had aged out of foster care gave birth to at least one child by the age of 22, compared to 24% of the general population, according to a 1994 study.
• In 1995, 12% of children in foster care had not received routine health care. 90% had not received services to address developmental delays.
• According to a 1999 report, less than 50% of foster youth had graduated from high school, compared to 85% of the general population.
• In 2000, of 732 mid-western foster care youths, nearly 52% had lived in three or more foster homes and had moved schools.
• In 1993, more than 60% of the homeless population in NYC municipal shelters were former foster youth.
In a 1994 survey, 36.2% of homeless individuals reported a history of foster care.
http://www.theorphansociety.org/news_facts...

[Gonzo Gardener]

6. Outlaw...

my chocolate and tobacco? You're asking for trouble, buddy!



Prohibition was so successful the last time, let's implement it again.:eyes:

[nannah]

7. perspective is everything. clearly health care reform

is the element of change that would have the greatest impact on the lives of Americans, since disease is the greatest killer by an extraordinarily large measure.

[KG]

8. ah yes. the silly 'bathtubs = guns' analogy

guns have one on purpose - to kill. none of the other things on thats list are made for the single purpose of killing.

guns kill people, that's their purpose.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. No, guns have one purpose - to project a lead pellet at a high velocity.

[Angela Shelley]

11. Let´s build prisons for those with above average BMI

because they scare me too!!

[rucky]

12. We should just outlaw death. With stiff penalties.

At least until we find a cure.