Social media's purpose these days seems to have people declaring their support or objection to banning certain types of fire arms, in the wake of another tragedy . . . with the message that the solution is obvious.
1 - It is simple to blame it on the types of guns, but Colt started mass producing the AR-15 in 1964, with its high capacity magazines, and it has only recently become an issue.
2 - It is easy to blame it on mental illness, but are there fewer people per capita with mental illness in Switzerland?
How about focusing on underlying causes instead of the tools?
Yep- too much to ask for, so instead, let’s take the fork away from the fat guy, or in other words, remove any tool that "causes" death. Such as . . .
First, adios to tobacco. . . weird that no one is outraged at the 480k deaths per year in the U.S. related to ciggies. Nor are the masses appalled at the $8.9 billion spent in tobacco marketing, (makes the NRA spending look paltry), or that 3200 kids under 18 smoke their first cigarette every day.
Next comes alcohol with 88k deaths per year. On average, alcohol related deaths shortened the lives of their victims by 30 years.
How about cars? Nearly 34k deaths in traffic accidents, or 10.5 per 100k people.
There were 17k murders last year. Almost 2k more than the previous year, but it hovers around 5 people per 100k. Obviously, any murder is one too many, but in the 1980s the numbers were around 10 murders per 100k. It is far safer today than it was when I was a kid. Like, twice as safe.
The U.S. has 89 guns per 100 people. According to the Washington Post, the murders by guns is 9,960, or 3.2 people per 100k.
Going on a visit to Jamaica? They have just 8 guns per 100 people, but have 39 killings per 100k. So, the U.S. has 10 times the guns per capita, but Jamaica has 10 times the killing rate.
Switzerland has about half the rate of gun ownership as the U.S., yet they are at 0.77 killings per 100k people per year, which is four times less than the U.S.
Is it really about gun ownership? I don't believe anyone on either side of the argument, for me, the jury is still out.
Take the guns, leave the guns, whatever. I would just like some consistency and address what causes people to use whatever tools they employ to cause premature deaths.
