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Saturday, December 19, 2015

Is This Good News or Bad News?

The Washington Post published an article today that says that across America, the number of people who die from traffic accidents is almost lower than the number who die from gunshot wounds.  This is a big change from 25 years ago when traffic fatalities were much higher than those from gun shots.

Is this bad news or good news?  The morons who twist every bit of news into how it supports the need for gun control did not waste any time.  For example, Connecticut's senator Chris Murphy tweeted out the article with an indication that action was needed on gun control.  Murphy is not the only one to do so.  Murphy portrayed the statistics as yet more bad news about guns.

Unlike Murphy, I took the time to actually read the article in the Post.  The statistics are that gun homicides have been falling for years.  They are now at the lowest point in 25 years.  Auto fatalities, however, have fallen far faster as all the mandatory safety equipment has been put into cars and as treatment for those in car accidents has improved.  So we have good news on gun homicides and even better news on car fatalities.  The Washington Post also pointed out that 2/3 of all gun deaths are suicides and that the number of suicides has been rising slowly.  One thing I know for certain:  if a person has gotten to the point where he or she shoots herself, the lack of a gun won't prevent that suicide.  There are too many other ways to commit suicide.  It's certainly easy enough to buy a bottle of aspirin and take the whole thing.

The reality is that there have been big strides made in preventing automobile fatalities.  That's good news.  There have also been big strides seen in reducing gun homicides across the country.  That too is good news.  Neither or these facts provide any support for those who want to impose additional gun controls on Americans.




 

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